Resurrection
by redfirerose
Summary: Freddy Fazbear's Is a pit of problems and bad history, But it's still a business, with plenty of people (and animatronics) depending on it's continued success. We all have reasons for coming back each night, and sometimes all it takes is a small breath of life to bring back what was thought to be gone forever.
1. From ashes to ashes

AN: Well. It's been a while, so excuse the rustiness of my writing. This has been very quickly edited by myself but it has not been properly beta-ed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's or it's sequel. Those rights belong solely to Scott Cawthon. I am broke, don't sue me.

-  
>If hell could be found on Earth, it probably looked exactly like Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. The place reeked of grease and the whole building seemed to be worn down and faded. Tiled floors looked grimy even when being mopped, and the posters lining the walls hadn't been replaced in at least a good ten years. So what had prompted the motley group of twenty-somethings to step foot inside?<p>

A birthday party, alcohol, and the fact that the local Chuck E. Cheese's apparently had age restrictions to stop situations just like this from happening.

Amber slid deeper into the corner of the booth, trying to drown out the sound of children squealing and pretend that their parents weren't watching her group quite so closely. The rest of her friends were arguing over what pizza toppings to order, and whether they could get the animatronic band to play 'Pizza Party Birthday' for them.

"Just order the small personal pizzas if you can't agree, there's no need to hold up the staff because you can't make up your mind." A migraine was quickly building, and the atmosphere wasn't helping any. As if to make the moment worse, the floor show was starting up, and Bonnie's electric guitar let out the first warbling notes.

"Amber, there's no need to snap at us. What is the matter with you tonight?" Jenna, the birthday girl herself, glanced over at the tired brunette. "Try to cheer up okay? Don't worry about what anyone here says, we're totally owning this night!"

"Jenna, you're twenty-five now, and you're trying to get a robot bear to sing happy birthday to you." Amber deadpanned, not understanding how this place could be considered fun to anyone over the age of eight.

"Yeah, and I'm not ashamed of it at all. I loved these sorts of places as a kid, and I don't want to lose that feeling just because people expect me to." Jenna turned and smiled at the waitress, giving her order and staying quiet until she left. "I get that money's tight for you at the moment, but I wanted you to come tonight so you could forget about everything. So spending time together can be your present."

Amber sighed and gave a small smile. "It's not like I can ditch you. You're the one with the car keys."

"That's the spirit! Hostage birthday party at a kiddie pizzeria." Jenna tossed her arm over the other girl's shoulders and shook her gently before letting go and returning to the others conversation.

Held hostage at a kiddie pizzeria. Definitely hell on earth, and the perfectly horrible end to a horrific week. Amber had to hitch a ride with Jenna because her own cars gas tank was out of gas, and her wallet was out of money to go buy more to fill it. That also meant it was too empty to pay for things like rent, credit card bills, and groceries.

The week had started pretty bad, sleeping through Monday mornings alarm meant sneaking into her engineering class an hour late and getting slammed with an extra paper to write or risk failing the semester. It only got worse since calling out from work in order to write the paper had gotten her a nasty message on her phone informing her that she didn't need to bother coming back. Slackers weren't wanted at Jerry's Auto mart.

Her friends were less than helpful, telling her to relax and 'keep positive', but Amber couldn't really be too upset with them. In the end, this week was going to hit her eventually. The only reason her engineering grade was in such a bad place was because she'd missed more classes than she'd attended. The paper was really just the professors last chance of trying to help her scrape together a passing grade. At work, she _had_ been a slacker, hiding in the backroom and drafting up designs rather than actually working or aiding customers.

So now here she was, sitting in an uncomfortable vinyl booth with four other college students, listening to corny music written in the 1980's. Not enough money to get her friend a present, or even continue surviving on her own if she didn't find work quick.

She remembered this place from her own childhood vividly, but it was for a much different reason than her friends. "I have to use the bathroom, I'll be right back." she said, sliding her knees up onto the cushion beside her and popping over the divider into the empty booth next to them. Free from her corner, though now the subject of even more judgmental stares, she wandered over towards the hallway with the bathrooms, passing them and going straight back towards the manager's office.

Raised voices could be heard even through the thick door, and Amber waited in the hall for a minute, a bit nervous to interrupt.

"We can't afford to pay those rates! We've used your company for fifteen years, and repairs have never cost as much as you're trying to bill now! No, I am not willing to negotiate, you price gouging twits, I have bigger things to worry about!" there was a slam and with that as a cue, Amber rapped on the door, biting her lip at the curse she heard ring out. The door opened quickly, a portly balding man with a reddened face glaring at whoever was bold enough to interrupt him. The glare went away once he recognized the girl in front of him.

"Amber? What in the world are you doing here sweetheart? You're a bit old to be playing around a place like this. I thought you were off to that big university upstate?" he reached out and pulled the young woman into a hug.

"The scholarships were less than we were expecting, so I'm actually attending community college." a quick squeeze and release had Amber looking up at the manager and owner of Freddy Fazbear's. "I'm here with some, uh, friends." she smiled weakly. "I promise they aren't troublemakers, they're just a bit odd. Harmless really. It's My friends birthday, and she wanted this as her party." she shrugged. "Uncle Eddy, do you think you can get the band to play that birthday song for her? It would be a good gift, and It would mean a lot to her I'm sure."

"If you're trying to embarrass the poor girl, I won't ask questions." he joked. "All it takes is a small change in the song lineup. I can do it from here." he guided her into the little office and sat down. "If you just type in your friends name here, Freddy will even sing it for her specifically." he slid the keyboard over for her to type in Jenna's name.

"thanks Uncle Eddy. This means a lot to me that you'd do this. I'm sure having us hanging around isn't the best for business." she slid the keyboard back over and straightened up.

"It's not for free." He said sternly, his face holding the serious expression for a few seconds before relaxing. "I haven't seen you since you graduated. If I'd known you were living so close, I'd have made you visit." he joked. "Stick around once the party is over and we can catch up."

Amber shuffled her feet. "I came here with my friends, so I don't really have a ride if I stick around." she said quietly, feeling bad that she sounded ungrateful.

"Oh, well, I suppose you can just leave your number for me then so we can pick another time to talk. I'm very busy these days, the place takes up a lot of time to keep it running. Your friends party might be the last birthday party Freddy Fazbear's sees." the stress lines littering her uncles face deepened a bit and Amber felt terrible for him.

Freddy Fazbear's was her uncles dream, It had been open for longer than she had even been alive. All of her cousins had worked there, and her Aunt Sarah had worked in the kitchens making homemade pizzas until she'd had to retire from it due to her failing health. Amber knew very vague things about the pizzeria's past, only knowing that there was a reputation that had kept the place from blowing up into a huge nationwide franchise. Even in the dire situation she was in, she still felt pity for the place and her uncle.

"Hey, If you don't mind driving me home, I can stick around and talk. I think we both could do with some family time, and maybe I can help you out some?" she really didn't know what sort of help she could be, but as much as she hated the kids and the smell of grease, she did love her Uncle.

"I think I can do that. Now why don't you get back to your friends. You won't want to miss the show. Make sure to get a good picture of your friend's face when Freddy sings to her, It was always a hoot when they heard their names." he hugged her and sent her off. "Come on back before closing, we can get some real food and catch up, I just need to make a call and have a chat with the night guard before tonight."

She nodded. "Alright Uncle Eddy, I'll see you in a bit." She hurried back to the main party room just as the band was gearing up to change songs. Tugging on Jenna's sleeve she grinned widely.

"I figured out what to do for your birthday present." Turning to the stage she pointed at the band. "since you were so dead set on it, I pulled some strings. Happy birthday."

The tune for 'Pizza Party Birthday' geared up, Freddy starting off with his iconic laugh, and a quick dum-de-dum-dum before wishing Jenna a personal happy birthday and starting to sing.

"Oh my god, this is ridiculous." Jenna laughed, her face buried in her hands even as she giggled. "I don't know if this is the most embarrassing thing to happen or the most awesome." she wiped the tears out of the corners of her eyes and elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs for trying to jeer at her. "How did you even pull this off?"

"My uncle is the owner of the place. I just went and asked him to set it up. It's a lot faster than trying to talk to a bunch of robots." she looked pointedly at the others. "Honestly, did you really think talking to the animatronics was going to work? They're not people, they just play what they're programmed to."

"Whoa, so you're Uncle is THE Freddy Fazbear?" Josh, Jenna's boyfriend asked with wide eyes.

"Freddy Fazbear is the one up on stage, not actually the owners name. My uncles name is Edward. And no, before you ask, his last name is not Fazbear, that would just be silly." Amber sat down and rolled her eyes at the stupid assumption. "He started out with buying the robots from some diner called Fredbear's or something years ago. He had the idea before Chuck E. Cheese was ever set up. I don't really know what happened, but my dad says some stuff went down in the late eighty's, and it really hit the company bad. It all happened before I was born, and obviously the family never talks about it."

"Whoa, that's rough. Why didn't you say anything when we came in? We could have gotten free pizza or something?" Andy, Josh's brother piped in, annoyed since they'd already paid.

"Hey, he's my uncle, why would I try to cheat him out of money? This place needs it pretty bad don't you think?" Amber said defensively. She didn't like the place with how run down it was, but after talking to her uncle, and having her friends know about her connection to it, she felt compelled to stick up for it.

Jenna bit her lip. "Actually, since you brought up money, why don't you ask your uncle about getting a job here? I know it's mostly teenagers, but a job is a job, and working around animatronics would probably help with your degree right? Weren't you talking about trying out for those creature shop jobs for movies and stuff?"

Amber rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, but that's for stuff like in Hollywood. I doubt it's the same as these old guys." She sighed and thought it over. "I promised I'd talk to tonight anyway. I'll bring it up. Not sure if he'll be able to even pay me much though, there's just not that much business. He's promised to drive me home though, so I won't be heading back with you guys. Sorry, I know you were looking forward to a horror movie fest, but You'll have to just do it without me."

"Hey, no sweat. He's family, and if you get a job out of it, it's way more important for you than sitting around watching movies all night." The others agreed with Jenna's statement and when they got up to leave, Amber headed back to the managers office.

The owner was just locking up his office and getting his night manager to get ready to close down the building. "Tony, close up and get the place cleaned up, okay? I'm taking off early, my niece came to visit and We're heading out for coffee." he patted the young woman's shoulder and led her out the back entrance to where is old beat up green Chevy was parked. The sun had long ago set and the parking lot was near empty. "I'm glad you decided to take the time to talk to an old man like this. I'm sure you had a fun evening planned with your friends."

"It really was nothing Uncle Eddy. Besides, It would be pretty messed up for me to stop by your work and not even say hello." She didn't mention that until she'd thought about asking him for a favor, she was going to do just that.

"Well, it was good for your friends to bring in business for us." he stayed quiet until they pulled into the parking lot of a twenty-four hour diner. "I'm just a bit embarrassed that you'd do something like that just to help out the family business. We're hardly making a profit, and that you'd get your friends to come here just to add a bit of income-"

"Uncle Eddy, it wasn't my idea to come by. I didn't even know the place was doing so badly. Jenna is just a bit odd, she really did want to have a pizza party." Amber cut him off, not wanting him to think she'd actually brought her friends just out of pity for him. "Just how bad is it? I mean, sure, there wasn't a lot of kids around tonight, but people are still coming right?"

"Honestly, there have been days when no one has come in. we keep the band playing because they have some trouble getting going if we turn them off for too long, but the electricity is a drain, and so are the pizza ingredients we end up wasting. Even with the cutbacks we've had to make, it just seems more and more like a struggle we can't win." He shook his head. "Just today the company we usually use to service the animatronics gave us an estimate that was three times the amount we usually pay. There's no way we can budget that in." opening the door for his niece he followed her in and sat at a booth near the back. "I shouldn't be bothering you with all these troubles. You're a bright young woman and I'm sure college is enough of a worry to you. Tell me what you've been up to?"

Amber ducked her head, feeling even worse about her state of affairs. "Um, actually not too great. My engineering class is looking pretty difficult, and I was just let go from the place I was working at." She looked down at her lap. "I was going to ask if there was any jobs open that you'd be willing to hire me for, but I'm sure you can't really afford another employee."

"Actually, I have a position open right now." He said tentatively. "See my night guard is on his last week. I didn't see him this morning like I usually do, so he probably took off before his shift ended. I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to just not show up the rest of the week. He's put in his notice, and besides setting up some basic training information for whoever we hire on next, he's really got nothing to do. I was calling him today to make sure he'd actually show up, but he never picked up his phone." He shook his head, as if it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. "The pay is as low as it gets. I really can't afford anymore than the absolute minimum."

Amber bit her lip. "Uncle Eddy, have you thought about taking out a business loan? I know you're really against them after you worked so hard to get the business off the ground, but I think if you put the money towards fixing up the animatronics and remodeling the building, you could really get business back. I mean, people have been coming here for over twenty years. And that's a really good record for any business." she pulled out her cell phone.

"My roommate has been looking for a job for months. I'm sure he'd take anything at this point. And I'll work on the animatronics during the night shift for a lot cheaper than any professional company would try to charge. I might even be able to get my professor to accept it as some extra credit towards my grade." she offered while scrolling through her contacts. "He's a really hard worker. He worked night shift at his last job, so the hours won't be a problem. I can have him come in for an interview, and if you like him, I know he could start next week." she looked up at him, her finger poised over the call button. "Should I ask him?"

The aging man slumped back in his seat. "this is a pretty big risk Amber. If we take this loan, and we don't make it, that'll be a debt that I don't think my savings could cover." he frowned and looked down at his hands, deep in thought.

"Did that stop you when you first opened? I know the place has been through a lot, but it's still standing, and I'm sure that with the right work put into it, you could be making good money again." Amber smiled as brightly as she could, really hoping she could get her uncle to agree.

"It's a huge risk, but at the very least, I do need a new night guard. Call your friend, and he can come by in the morning to fill out the paperwork. Before I make the decision to get a loan, I want to see what you can do for the animatronics. There's one that's been out of order for years. Foxy. You can work on him first, and I'll pay you for your work. If I like it, I'll get a loan and you can fix up the band."

Amber grinned, feeling a lot better than she had since the week had started. "Deal." she hit the call button and waited for the other end to pick up.

"Hey Mike? I have a great job opportunity for you."

–

If you thought Amber was going to be the night guard, you were wrong. Nope, this takes place just before the event's of the first game, and will mostly follow the game where it can. I'm trying to give some reason for Mike to be the guard even after night one, and explore the workings of the pizzeria as a legitimate business.

Please review, tell me if you like this and what your thoughts are, constructive criticism is always accepted and I would love to know what you liked or disliked about this chapter so the next chapters can be even better.

-Red


	2. the ending of an era

AN: So, chapter two here. I'll be the first to admit, the plot line I have drafted for this is pretty ambitious for me, and it's very gratifying to know that you guys actually want to read it. This chapter is shorter, but it picks up the main feel of the story a bit more.

A HUGE thank you to my new friend Chrissy for beta reading this and asking very smart questions about my plot line. This chapter is dedicated to her, since she took the time to read it despite being sicker than Typhoid Mary.

(IMPORTANT: I am aware that the original game is set in the early 90's. This story goes on the assumption that the franchise was able to survive until present day. Mike will be making more money as a result, but that won't ever come up in story, I am only mentioning it since it is relevant to the time line and character dialogue. This is why Amber mentions that all the unfortunate incidents happened before she was born. Beyond that, most of the events on Mike's side of this story will remain true to FNaF cannon lore.)

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Five Night's at Freddy's or it's sequel.

Please enjoy.

–

"It's a job, and the only one you've been offered in weeks. You don't even need to interview for it, just bring in your information and sign all the legal paperwork. I can't afford to cover your half of the rent anymore and you know it." Sunlight poured in through the bedroom window, highlighting the pile of blankets curled up in the corner of the bed. Amber reached out and shoved it again. "Seriously Mike, stop being such a loser and get out of bed. I told my uncle you were a hard worker, if you don't show some initiative, I'm gonna look like a liar."

the blankets shifted and one arm reached out, patting around blindly.

"What are you doing now?" Grabbing on to the flailing limb, she started tugging to get him to move. A sleep tousled head poked out, eyes blinking hard against the bright light.

"I was looking for the snooze button to shut you up." Mike sat up and yanked his arm free. He looked over at the digital clock sitting on the bedside table and groaned. "I only went to bed three hours ago. Why do I have to go in now? You know my sleep schedule is out of whack."

Amber sighed and crossed her arms. "Your sleep schedule is going to stay out of whack. It's a night job Mike, it's not like I'm trying to convert you to being an early bird. You just need to be up now so you can fill out some forms before the place opens." she kicked the corner of the bed impatiently before turning to the dresser and grabbing clean clothes to toss at her lazy roommates head.

"How do you even expect me to get there. It's not like our cars are moving anywhere anytime soon." A hand flew up to catch the clothes just as they slapped into his face.

"Uncle Eddy drove me home last night and gave me some money to fill the gas tank. Which was very nice of him, and personally I think the best way to thank him for it is to actually use that gas to come in and work. You know like he expects us to." Seeing he was getting up, Amber felt safe to leave the room and head towards their little apartments kitchen.

"The condescending tone isn't cute Amber. You don't always have to resort to sarcasm!" Mike called after her before getting up to get ready for the day

"Mike if you're not used to the sarcasm by this point, I don't know why you're still roommates with me. Everyone else has accepted that's just how I communicate." Amber dug through the refrigerator for milk, cursing quietly to herself when she realized they were out. "Once we have our first paychecks, you're doing the grocery shopping. I swear, I go out for one night and you eat half of the food in the house just to spite me."

Mike wandered out of his room, not really caring about breakfast when he was still so tired. "Whatever, the sooner we go sign those papers, the sooner we can get back and I can go back to sleep."

Giving up on the idea of cereal, Amber slammed the fridge closed and grabbed the keys to her car. "Please try to be more enthusiastic about this when we're actually there. I highly doubt that sort of attitude is what they look for in a night guard."

"You're pretty uptight about this whole job thing. I thought you hated Freddy Fazbear's." Mike looked a bit surprised at how adamant his roommate was being about this particular job

Amber led the way to their parking garage and was quiet before trying to explain something she wasn't really sure of herself. "I just don't like kids. It's not really what I'd like to be doing, but It's something that's been a part of the family, and I can't deny that it's part of why I wanted to get into the field I'm in. I called my professor before waking you up, and he agreed that hands on work would be a better example of what I can do than a paper." she unlocked the doors to her old Focus and slid into the driver's seat, waiting for Mike to get in before continuing.

"I'm being given a chance to have a job that will give me hands on experience, a second shot at fixing my screwed up grades, and I just feel like I should be grateful that fate is throwing me a bone here. You should be grateful too. You need this job, and you know it. You're an adult and the last thing you need is to have to move back into your parents house because you couldn't pay rent. They'd never stop giving you shit about it if you did. This way, we'll be getting weekly paychecks, and it may not be a lot, but it's enough to live on. Besides, guarding a building when there aren't any customers around? How hard could it be?"

–

While Mike was sitting in the back security room, filling out the tax paperwork and getting acquainted with what would be his new office, Amber was following her Uncle towards the purple curtains in the corner of the main party room that had been labeled as out-of-order for years.

"Foxy has been out of commission for a long time. We just couldn't afford to keep fixing all the animatronics, and since he's not part of the main band, he was the one that ended up getting cut from the maintenance plan. This area is called pirates cove, and if you can get him running again, we might have a shot at getting more families coming back here to see it." The purple stage curtains were pulled all the way back and Amber winced at how bad Foxy looked, even compared to the other machines.

"Uncle Eddy, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, the animatronics here are ugly. They might have been impressive when they were first built, but technology has gotten better over the years." she walked forward and knelt to check on the oddly twisted shapes that were the fox's legs. Feeling along the matted white fur covering his legs, she frowned. "The structures here are articulated, and he's got pretty heavy feet. Was Foxy actually able to walk?"

"All of the animatronics can. When we first opened, they actually were able to wander around with the customers. They were fitted with the most advanced artificial intelligence software available back then." He looked over at the Fazbear band and shook his head. "It turned out to be too much of a liability. We switched off the AI and just left them to be stationary attraction with a set number of songs. Their software is old though, so they go into free roaming at night to keep them from powering down completely."

"Having walking animatronics would be a huge advantage though." Amber tested the movement of one leg, grunting when it wouldn't bend fully. "I could get Foxy's legs working again, but I'd need to remove the fur." she wrinkled her nose at the ripped and grimy faux fur in distaste. "Really these things need new fur anyway. They stink, and it looks like the oil used on the facial joints has really mucked up the eye area."

The news of so much work needing to be done wasn't very welcome to the owner. "I don't have much money to put towards fixing these things up. I usually only spend three hundred to fix the band each month, and without maintenance, who knows what will happen to their programming. I already skipped last months checkup because of the price increase."

"That means there's six hundred bucks available to fix up Foxy. After that, he'll bring in a bit of extra cash with people coming to see so we can work on the others." she grinned and moved Foxy's jaw closed so he looked more like he was smiling. "How can you say no to a face like that?"

Her uncle looked at her with a blank face that made it clear he could easily say no to Foxy's admittedly disturbing grin.

"Okay, so he's still rough-looking, I'll give you that. But some new fur and a bit of remodeling to the eyes and jaw, and he'll be adorable, I can do this. I _want_ to do this, and if he doesn't make enough money to cover the other repairs, I'll do them for free, I promise. You've already got most of the spare parts I need in the backstage area anyway. I could fix his legs and have him up and running again by next Tuesday." she let go of his jaw and watched it flop open again.

"There's a wholesale fabric store that carries fake fur for a decent price. Using the scraps he's got on him, we could re-do the patterning and make him look a bit friendlier. At least it would get rid of the stained rags he's got on now." The head jerked some on its own and Amber jumped slightly. "Oh crap, that startled me. I didn't realize this thing still had any power to him." she settled down once she realized he wasn't moving more than to turn his head.

"We keep them all running, since letting the servos lock up would mean an even bigger repair cost. But I know that Foxy's legs weren't damaged earlier this week. Something must have happened during the night shift to have damaged him like this. I guess I'll need to make another call. Scott never showed up for work last night, just like I suspected."

"Well Mike is probably almost done filling out those papers, and it's close to opening. You go ahead and try to make whatever calls you need to, Mike and I can show ourselves out. I'll just wait for him out here and check over Foxy some more." She turned to look at the old pirate fox and pushed against his arms and neck, checking to see if he was damaged in any other places besides the obvious gashes in his fur. As her uncle headed back to his own office she noticed the animatronics head move again, appearing to stare right at her.

"You're a little spooky, aren't you, ya old sea dog? Well, I'm here now to fix you up right. I'll get you back to fighting form in no time, and don't be too offended by the whole 'ugly' remarks. You really don't look so bad. Least not as bad as some of the others." She said the last bit lowly, as if the Fazbear band would hear and be offended. Laughing at her moment of frivolity, she stood up and made sure Foxy wouldn't fall over from his seated pose against the pirate ship.

She moved to the front of the stage to close the purple show curtains and stopped at the whirring noise behind her. Turning she noticed Foxy's eyes following her. Testing out the theory, she stepped over to the right and watched as the head turned to follow her movements. Moving to the left produced the same results.

"No way." she breathed out, moving back towards the machine. "Motion tracking technology didn't even exist back when you were made. Did they retrofit you or something?" She crouched beside the pirate and swayed slowly back and forth, testing the movements as they unerringly followed her. "By all rights you shouldn't be able to do this, but you are. You're a lot more impressive than I thought Foxy." She said, impressed at how fluid the movement was, despite the damaged condition the rest of him was in.

A loud shout broke her from her observations. "Amber, what are you doing? Lets get out of here, the place is about to open." Mike stepped up on to the stage and made a face at the robot slumped in front of them. "What the heck is this thing? Some sort of dog?"

Amber rolled her eyes. "This is Foxy. Some sort of pirate attraction that's been out-of-order for a while. Come look at this, he can follow where you're moving. I've never seen this kind of motion from such an old animatronic." She swayed again, Foxy still moving his head to watch her with a whirring noise. His jaw clicked slightly with the movement.

"Oh god, that's terrifying. Why does he move like that?" Mike flinched back, disturbed by the unexplained movement. Foxy's head turned at the sudden motion to watch him instead, and he yelped at the sudden focus.

"Calm down, Mike, It's not creepy. It's just programming, and considering how old these guys are, pretty brilliant programming at that. I'm going to be fixing this guy up, so be nice to him okay? He's obviously had it really rough." she patted the red furred shoulder as she stood to leave.

"I'm not getting near that thing if I can help it. I don't want these things staring at me with their creepy doll eyes. Once Monday night comes I'm just holing myself up in my office and not leaving. You can stay out here all night and fiddle with the robots to your heart's content." Mike edged away from the stage and pulled the curtains shut, blocking out Foxy's gaze once again.

Amber snorted at her friends paranoia. "Oh, don't be such a pansy. There's really nothing to be worried about. You're letting all those urban legends get to your head. I'm sure everything will be just fine."

–

AN: Those are famous last words. This chapter came out a LOT different from how I had originally planned it out, but I do like this pacing better. Foxy wasn't going to appear for at least another chapter, clearly he demanded that was too slow.

Over 100 views in under 24 hours. I'm honestly floored.

A very sincere thank you to MartialArtist01 and rapono for reviewing. This story is something that's been evolving in my head, and knowing that even one other person besides me is enjoying it makes me happy.

As always, please feel free to leave a review with any constructive criticism, or even just to say you like it. As you can see by how fast this update came, It really motivates me to keep working on this.

-Red


	3. First night

AN: Chapter three here! The outpouring of support is really inspiring. Thank you so much for all of the views, and especially all the follows and comments I've been getting. Unbetaed chapter again since my friend is still very sick and facing finals. Please excuse any grammar mistakes as my own, I did edit this a few times, but things slip through.

Golden Sparta86 asked a very good question regarding the pairings for this story, since it is listed as a romance. This is FoxyxOC, but I will state this right from the start, there will be no smut in this story. Since Foxy is after all, a robot. In body at least. I don't want to give too much away, but this story will be getting into the concept of the line between artificial intelligence and self awareness, and just how alive the characters of Five Nights at Freddy's really are.

I have fiddled with the summery settings, so it should hopefully reflect the pairing now so no one else is confused.

Disclaimer: I still do not own Five Nights at Freddy's or it's sequel. But I did make my Phone Guy named Scott, since the creator voiced him.

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Night One- 12 AM- Amber

–

Carpooling to work was a hassle. Mike had to come in a full two hours just to get his uniform and a list of rules and guidelines from the company, but it had given Amber the time to gather the supplies and tools she needed to set up a workstation right in Pirate Cove, so she couldn't rightfully complain.

Foxy was just too heavy to be moved from his own stage to the backroom to be worked on, so she took what she needed to him instead.

The restaurants lights dimmed before flickering off, and Amber knew the work night had begun. In order to cut down on the electric bill, the night shift worked off of a low energy generator. It was something that had been put into action in the past year, to cut costs. She had her own generator set up to run the necessary lights and equipment needed, but the rest of the building would be dark until six.

"Alright Foxy, we're going to give you some new legs tonight. I'm sorry to say I'll have to take the fur off your legs, and it'll be a bit before the new fur comes in, but I'm sure it'll still be a huge improvement." Amber couldn't explain why she felt the urge to talk to the broken robot, perhaps because it made her feel less alone. It could have also been that under the work lamps, he looked a bit less like a project, and more like a patient, with her as his concerned doctor. His staring was making her jittery though, and it just made the dark open space behind her more ominous. The dim emergency lights left odd shadows stretching across the open party room, and highlighted the main stage where the Fazbear band stood motionless.

She pulled the stage curtains closed, bringing a small sense of security, even if it was just fabric. Having that much darkness surrounding her made her jumpy. Even if it was an irrational fear, she couldn't stand the feeling that she was being watched by something she couldn't see. "It's probably just Mike messing with me. Bored out of his mind and just waiting to mess with my head."

Like he had been when she first went to evaluate him, Foxy was watching her, head tilted to the side and jaw flapped open from it's missing screws. "Alright Foxy. No more putting it off. Let's see just how bad things are." The matted fur covering the twisted pair of legs was carefully cut off and set aside, displaying the metal endoskeleton within. Both shins were bent in the same backwards direction, as if they'd been caught under a heavy beam and crushed down.

"Well, it's not as bad as I thought. The wires are still intact, all you need is some new shin bones and you'll be standing right back up." she hummed a bit and sorted through the beams she'd gathered from the back room, looking for ones that would be the right height. Some were clearly meant for Chica, with how much shorter they were compared to the others. Foxy's parts hadn't been kept around like the others were, so she was going to have to improvise a little.

"It's a good thing your wires are longer than your bones are Foxy. All the beams I've got here are bigger than the ones you have now. So you're getting a few inches of added height. You'll be even taller than Bonnie once we're done." She set down the spare parts and rolled her sleeves out of the way. Looking up at the pirate's face she frowned. "Please try not to watch so much. I know it's just your programming, but it just makes me feel awful, having to take you apart like this." she reached up and slowly turned his head to face away from her, relaxing slightly when he stayed that way.

"Okay. Everything's great so far."

–

Night One- 3 AM- Mike

–

Everything was going to hell in a hand basket, and Mike Schmidt had no idea how or why. What had started as a boring night job had devolved rapidly into the worst night of his life. Whoever the previous night guard was, he was a dick. Talking about moving murder-bots being allowed on the loose? Who decides to start off someone's work training like that? At first, it sounded like a badly planned joke. 'Let's mess with the new guy's head, make him paranoid over nothing.'

But then the duck-thing had moved. Faster than a person could have possibly dragged it. It just kept staring at the cameras with it's ugly duck bill hanging open. Why did a bird have teeth like that?

Mike cursed as the screen went dark for a moment, flipping through the camera feeds quickly once again to try and sort the kink out and relocate the yellow monstrosity. The feed stopped on the show stage where only Freddy stood staring.

So now the bunny was out too. Brilliant. With any luck he'd stay far away from the security office. But it was only past two in the morning and Mike was noticing that his power was draining uncomfortably quickly. He glanced around the room, flicking the door lights on to make sure nothing was lurking in the shadows.

The power meter showed that was an incredibly stupid idea as he lost a full three percent in the two minutes he'd spent checking. The lights were shut off again and Mike tried to figure out how to conserve his only resource.

The cameras drained power, but he had to know where the freaky robots were camping out. The lights and doors were huge power drains, so he'd have to use them only in emergencies. He was not going to turn off the light in his office. That comfort was the only thing keeping him even a little bit calm.

That stupid office fan could be unplugged though, as it was probably the thing that was always draining his power. He yanked the cord from the power strip and felt a brief moment of victory as he saw that had gotten rid of the little green bar that had been annoying him.

That meant all that would drain the generator now was the cameras.

The cameras that he hadn't been checking for ten solid minutes. Eyes wide, Mike clicked throughout the screens. Hearing noises in the kitchen meant one of them had to be there, but what about the other?

Pushing the light on for the east hallway showed nothing. He flipped the light off and turned to the west hall light.

Bonnie was right there, leaning just outside the door.

"Son of whore!" The office fan went hurling towards the robot in a fit of blind panic before Mike even thought to slam the door closed. Once the heavy metal barricade was in place, he closed the other, diving under his desk and flipping through camera feeds until he could confirm that none of the murder-bots were going to spring at him.

The doors required too much power to stay closed. Despite his extreme reluctance, Mike had to open them back up or risk losing power before six.

In all his fear, it wasn't until a quarter past five that he remembered that Amber was even in the building.

–

Night One- 5AM- Amber

–

So far the work was going faster than expected. She'd heard noises outside of the curtains, but remembering what her uncle had said about the animatronics going into roaming mode, didn't bother herself too much over it. She'd go to watch the others once she was done with her work for the night.

Foxy's legs were very nearly in place, and already he looked a bit better. Locking the knee joints into place, she moved back and looked over the work she'd managed to do.

A loud crashing sound made her turn quickly in surprise. "What the heck? Mike, I swear if you're messing around, I'm leaving you here and you can hitchhike home." she grumbled, heading towards the edge of the stage. The sudden sound of creaking metal stopped her from going to harass the night guard. Foxy had moved from where he laid and was standing up, moving jerkily and walking forward.

"Well I guess that answers the question on if the legs work." she said, realizing with the added few inches that Foxy was now around six feet tall, over a head taller than her. She backed up and almost teetered off the stage as he kept moving, stopping only once he was at the gap of the curtains, staring out over her head into the darkened pizzeria. She glanced back, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the darker room. The only thing she really noticed was that Bonnie and Chica had roamed off the main stage, leaving Freddy alone to stand quietly.

"It's almost six, letting you roam about isn't a good idea right now. There must be a way to get you to stay in place without switching you off." For once Foxy wasn't following her movements, just staring straight out into the main room. Until she tried to head down the steps, where he followed after, his hook pushing the curtains further aside. She stopped immediately, moving back onto the stage and pushing against his arm, careful in case the balance was wrong and he tried to tip backwards. He shuffled backwards and she tugged the curtains back closed.

As long as he wasn't trying to get out of Pirate Cove, she could relax, but it left her in a position of standing here with him and monitoring his movements personally. There was no way that she could keep working on him if he tried to wander around all night, but she couldn't turn off his programming, in case he didn't start back up again. It would have helped her if she knew what sort of programming and rules these robots worked under, but all of the coding was buried in her uncles computer. She'd have to wait until the next night to access them, and being cooped up in his office meant losing a day to work on the other problems Foxy had.

Working on his frame would just have to wait so she could decode whatever programming was going on in his brain.

The lights brightened up suddenly, pouring through the gap of the curtain. Amber turned off her small generator and checked that Foxy wasn't going to try walking around now that it was considered normal hours. Content that he wasn't going to try moving anywhere else, she finally left her workstation to check on Mike in his guard office.

–

Night One- End- 6 AM

–

The broken fan sitting in the hallway was Amber's first hint that something was wrong. "Mike? What the heck happened? The fan offend you or something?" She picked up the broken appliance and poked her head into the office. Mike flinched backwards sharply before focusing on her properly.

"Amber, you're alive. That's a relief." he tossed the small monitor back onto his desk and rubbed at his eyes, hands shaking from adrenaline.

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm alive, I've been working all night. What have you been doing? You look like shit." she came in and set the broken fan aside, figuring it would be best to calm down her friend before the day manager showed up.

"The robots are out to get me Amber, I swear. That duck was staring at me all night, it just kept coming back. Then that rabbit thing almost got me." He braced himself against his knees and breathed slowly, trying to calm down and hold back the nausea.

"You're sounding kinda crazy Mike. I know the animatronics creep you out, but they're not going to hurt you. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you about the free roaming mode, but that shouldn't be such a problem." Amber knelt down to try and look her stressed out roommate in the eye. "Come on, it's really not so bad."

"Not so bad? You didn't have to hear about the little endoskeleton quirk. You're lucky to be alive right now. Just listen." Mike fumbled with the phone, recalling the last message played.

Amber listened carefully, a bit put off by the questionable legal speak. Everything sounded right until the guard mentioned the 'Bite of '87.' she crossed her arms and looked more concerned as the tape played on. Mike was looking stressed out just listening to it and kept glancing out the side doors.

"Alright. So there's a programming problem. We can fix that though. It's not the end of the world. I was going to work on Foxy's coding tomorrow anyway, I'll just see about fixing this too." She said the words forcefully, as if to further convince herself as well as Mike.

"You can't seriously be considering coming back here? After knowing that these things really are dangerous?" Mike looked ready to toss his badge in the trash and leave the place never to return.

"It's something that can be fixed Mike. We need these jobs. Without them, we're both on the street. You back out of this now and I'm not covering your rent. I'll find someone who can actually keep a job for longer than a week and you'll be out on your ass." She wasn't budging this time, too used to Mike giving up and relying on her to handle all the problems. "You're my friend, and I know we've been through a lot of shit together, but this is something important to me, and for once I just want you to back me up."

Mike rubbed his temples and finally got up from his chair. "Fine. I'll stick around, provided you can fix the damn robots so they don't try to murder me. At least when I ask for favors they don't require you risk your life."

Amber turned and led the way down the hall, feeling a bit less comfortable with the Fazbear Band standing right up on the main stage. "It'll be fine. Foxy got up after I fixed his legs, and he didn't make any moves to stuff me in a suit. None of the others bothered me when I was out all night either. We're just making mountains out of molehills."

Mike shook his head, not believing her after the night he'd had. "All I want to do is get through this week and get my check." He watched the robots closely while following Amber towards the exit, giving the band a firm one-finger-salute as they left the room.

Purple curtains twitched as the two left, their retreat watched by one golden eye.

–

AN: So this took some time for me to write, I had some issues getting everything down the way I wanted it. I actually woke up very early this morning because someone was awake and wouldn't turn the hall light off. (world loves to show me dramatic irony apparently.) So I wrote the first half of this around five in the morning, and the second half starting at 7 at night.

Just before posting this I got a guest review that I couldn't respond to, so I'd like to tackle it here. It was only labeled as Guest.

Firstly, Thank you so much for reviewing and for saying you like this story, It means a lot to me. I am 100% for yaoi relationships, I have no problem with them whatsoever. However, the main idea that originally inspired this story is the pairing that I'm writing, even though romance is not my number one focus. The scenes where Amber is working with Foxy were the first thing that came to me, the rest just expanded from there, and it continues to expand even now. I am not upset by your suggestions at all, but I won't be pairing Foxy with any of the other animatronics, and I wouldn't change the pairing to something else just because it would get me attention. It's my greatest hope that my writing will speak for itself. I'm really glad you're enjoying this, and I hope you'll continue to enjoy it even with the pairing I'm writing.

-Red


	4. We all have motives

AN: Chapter four! Thank you SO much for all of the positive feedback. It really is impossible for me to convey how much it means to me. Every favorite, follow, and heartfelt review makes my tiny little Grinch heart sing. Meta, I am looking right at you. Your review almost made me start writing this chapter at 2 in the morning when i really should have been sleeping. So in thanks, this chapter is dedicated to you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Night's at Freddy's or it's sequel. Scott the Phone Guy does.

–

The drive home was silent, both roommates dealing with the events they'd just been through. Mike just kept staring out the window, not feeling up to talking about going back when he was still shaken up. He ignored Amber's attempts to talk and went straight to his room once they were safely inside, locking the door behind him and securing his windows before he felt he could possibly sleep.

Amber let him have his space, figuring that he'd be more likely to talk when he'd gotten some rest and time to think. Even she was exhausted from a full night awake and working, but she didn't have the luxury of going to bed just yet. Unlike Mike, she had classes to go to before she could take an afternoon nap. Her engineering professor would be expecting an initial update about the work being done with Foxy. That meant she'd have to shower, write up a short report and eat her dinner/breakfast before heading right back out.

Classes were three days a week, but only two of them would interfere with her new job like this. Freddy Fazbear's was closed on Sundays, and Uncle Eddy had made it clear that working then would be purely voluntary.

The sudden growling coming from her midsection made eating her first priority. They still had no milk in the apartment, and there wasn't enough time to spend cooking anything. Instant macaroni and a can of root beer would have to suffice.

"Breakfast of champions." Amber carried her food back with her into her modest little bedroom, setting it down on the thrift store table she had set up as a desk. The furniture was all mismatched pieces from yard sales, and the bedding was an old Mickey Mouse comforter from her childhood, but she was proud that it was all hers. Things she'd bought with her own money, or managed to hang onto after she'd left her parents home. The only new thing in the room was the laptop that had been a graduation present from her older brother.

She flopped into the comfy desk chair, bringing one foot up to rest on it's cushioned seat and using the other to push herself back and forth while the laptop booted up. Once she'd managed to bring up her word document, she devoted one hand to typing while the other handled sating her ravenous appetite.

Hearing about the glitch that was making Mike so terrified concerned her. He was probably upset that she'd been as calm as she was, thinking she wasn't taking him seriously. His silent treatment in the car certainly indicated it. That wasn't the case though. Unlike everyone else in Mike's life, she always took him very seriously. She just wasn't going to let the situation frighten her away.

Studying in the field that she did, and having her uncle own the business as long as he had without being hurt made her less frightened by the robots. After all, that's what they were, machines controlled by strings of zeros and ones.

An entire half hour was wasted typing up bullshit phrases to explain the relatively easy task of replacing animatronic shinbones. The more impressive she made it sound, the more likely her professor would give her a decent grade for it.

Stifling a yawn, Amber stretched and saved the document, emailing it to herself so she could print it out at the campus library. There was just enough time for her to have a quick shower and change her clothes before she was rushing back down to her car to get to class.

The traffic light gods were in her favor today, leaving enough time to print out her documents and get into the classroom on time.

The lecture was boring, but she was determined to pay attention. Chewing out Mike earlier made her realize she'd started to adopt his bad habits. In a field like mechanical engineering, she was already at a disadvantage by being a woman in a male dominated job. If she expected to do well after college, she needed to focus on her studies and show she really was dedicated to her work.

Once the class was over, she was asked to stay behind. Nervous about how her paper was received, knowing not much had really been done yet, she waited to be chewed out for the lack of progress.

"I'm impressed to see you making such an effort. You came in early and did just what I asked for. I see allowing this little project was the right decision." The stern professor didn't smile, but there was clearly approval in his tone. Amber relaxed slightly as she realized she wasn't going to be reprimanded.

"Thank you Professor Cawthon. I apologize for not showing this class the dedication it deserves. I promise, I'm doing everything I can to make up for it." Amber squared her shoulders, wanting to convey her new attitude towards the class.

"I can see that. But I think that these reports aren't enough to truly do the work you're doing justice. It's all fine and good to explain the process, but I think it would be more beneficial to have a visual representation as well. I'd like you to make this a full portfolio, with pictures or video to illustrate just what it is you've accomplished. It would be a very good addition to your resume, and a basis for your thesis if you choose to continue on to the masters program."

"Yes sir, I can certainly do that. Will you want the updates each class, or should I be treating this as a semester project?" doing all of this each week and the chapters of homework would be a struggle, but it was still feasible.

"I'll let you turn it in the week before finals. But I'm warning you now. This project is counting as all of the assignments you've missed so far. Failure to turn it in will result in an automatic failure for the class. You've missed enough that even a perfect exam score won't be able to make up for it. I expect you in every class from here on out."

Amber nodded her head quickly. "I'll do my best work, sir. I promise that I'm doing everything I can to prove I belong here. Thank you for allowing me this second chance. I won't let you down."

–

Despite the terror of the night, Mike fell asleep as soon as he was in his bed. Six hours of adrenaline and hyper-vigilance took their toll on a young mans body. Exhaustion didn't prevent nightmares though, and it was only five hours before he gave up trying to stay asleep. Jolting awake to the fear of being forced into an animatronic suit wasn't welcome the first time, and was downright loathed the second through sixth.

In the light of day, his first night seemed like nothing more than a bad dream, melting into the other nightmares that had plagued him. He felt sick and finally realized it was his stomach trying to digest nothing but air. Dragging himself out of bed he yanked on clean clothes and ventured out into the main living space. The apartment was quiet, no noises coming from either of the neighboring apartments, their occupants either at work or school for the day.

One pack of blueberry poptarts later he felt almost ready to face the day. Most days like this he'd be watching some DVDs or listening to music, but he didn't feel comfortable letting down his guard while he was alone. If Amber were around, maybe he could relax some, but she'd gone to her fancy college classes, leaving him to panic on his own.

He retreated to his room, feeling guilty for his negative thoughts. She'd threatened to kick him out, something that had never come up between them before, and had she been anyone else he knew he'd have lashed out at the threat. But she had every right to be harsh with him, and what she had said about him not holding down a job was true. That more than anything else was what upset him.

He'd barely graduated from high school, and the night he got his diploma was the night his parents kicked him out, leaving him to fend for himself as some sort of learning experience. Without Amber as his roommate, he'd be on the streets. No one else would have put up with his slacker attitude as long as she had, and everyone had their limits.

Resenting her for trying to better herself would just be petty jealousy. She'd strained the relationship with her own parents just by being his friend and trying to support his choices instead of staying at her family home upstate and going to a more prestigious college. Her folks were still paying for her tuition, and her brother came by sometimes to check on her, but he knew the fights she had when they called were always because of him.

Booting up his computer, he decided to stay up and apologize once she got home. Until then, he'd do his own research on just where he was working and what the Bite of '87 was all about.

–

Amber trudged into the apartment at half past noon, looking forward to getting some sleep before she'd have to be up for work. Mike's door was open and she peeked her head in to check on him, finding him engrossed in something on his computer. "Hey, you get some sleep in? You know we have a long night ahead of us."

Mike flinched hard and turned towards her. "Sorry, didn't hear you come in. I was just doing some research on what the phone guy said. About '87?"

"What did you find out?" Amber walked over to peer at the computer screen, intrigued as to what her own family never talked about.

"Not much. It's like none of the newspapers wanted to cover it. It was one of the day shift guards who got bit, Jeremy Fitzgerald. No obituary to go with it, so he didn't die, frontal lobe or not. Blamed it on a glitch in the system the animatronics had. Some kind of experimental criminal database facial recognition to keep out pedophiles."

Amber leaned over his shoulder to read, fully interested now. "Criminal database? Facial recognition? What is this, CSI? We didn't even have a full federal database until the mid '90s. And it's not like the technology used in criminology was that advanced back in 1987. First motion tracking, then artificial intelligence, now criminal databases? What the heck are these things? Some sort of Area 51 government scheme?"

"Does this mean we don't have to go back tonight?" Mike said hopeful that the suspicious information would prove his apprehension valid.

"We need the money Mike. And now I'm even more eager to see those coding files. Can you imagine what sort of genius must have put them together? This is the sort of technology we use today, and they had it back before we were even born. When computers were still black and green, and the big floppy disks were considered a good storage format." Amber's demeanor was the exact opposite of Mike's, but she hadn't been through the night he had.

"Do you think you can fix them? If they were so advanced back in the '80s, their coding probably isn't like what your used to. It could follow some specific order that only the builder can figure out. Who knows how long it'll take you to figure it out. And in the meantime, I'm going to be fighting for my life against those things, while you're safely locked away."

"You can use my generator tonight. I won't be needing it, and the extra power will be enough that you can sit with the doors down all night if you want. I promise you won't be in any danger. If you expect me to be able to do anything though, I really have to go to sleep now. You should get some more sleep too. Even if you have doors, you're going to need to be alert for your shift. Make sure there aren't any other quirks that are going to cause problems." She stood up straight again and ruffled her friends hair. "You still look like crap. Go to bed."

"Yeah, well you ain't exactly a spring daisy either." Mike closed out of the news article and shut down his desktop. "Hey, about earlier, I'm sorry. I was acting like kind of a dick. It was just stress, you know?"

Amber waved him off, already heading for her own room. "Don't even worry about it. I'm not upset, you had a rough night. I'm sorry I went off on you. I know you're a good guy, you just have tough luck, that's all. If you find another job I won't be mad about you quitting this one. I just don't like you sitting around all day because I know you're better than that. Show some ambition and prove your parents wrong." She smiled at him from across their living room before closing her door.

Mike rubbed the back of his head, shutting his own door and flopping onto his mattress. "Glad you think so highly of me, but I'm not so sure." He mumbled to himself before curling up for some sleep of his own.

–

AN: Between the night chapters are day chapters that will likely be shorter. The day chapters go into Mike and Amber's history and motives, explaining who they are and why they act the way they do.

You've probably noticed that I try to avoid physical descriptors for the two. I've only revealed that Amber has brown hair and is shorter than Foxy, and both she and Mike are the same age somewhere in their mid-twenties. This is deliberate, as I want to be able to leave their physical features up to you, the reader. Unless what their wearing is somehow relevant to the plot, I'm not writing that either. Paragraphs describing some fancy outfit, or the exact color of someones twinkling eyes is just pointless padding, and really more because of the authors mental vision anyway. It makes it a bit harder for me to write, as using descriptors as a way to show who's talking is convenient, but I'll sacrifice the convenience because I truly think it's important that you come up with your own mental image of Amber and Mike.

As for their relationship, I know it sounds a bit romantic. I'm saying this right now; They are not, and will not, be together. The reason they act the way they do is because they do love each other very deeply, but it isn't a romantic love. It's a deep trust and understanding between friends. If you need an easy explanation, just think that these two have the ultimate Bromance. That's the closest I can come to explaining it. Relationships are a huge part of this story. Familial, Romantic, or even just the bonds between good friends. It's all a part of what motivates characters actions. Next chapter is Night 2. and we all know who comes into play on Night 2.

As always, please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts, they help me figure out what you guys are liking and disliking about the story.

-Red


	5. Second night

AN: Chapter Five! And we're still just getting started! I love every single one of you. Every chapter I write has been morphing this story into something so much bigger and better than I originally imagined it. It came from a simple little idea I just wanted to jot down, and now it's taking off into something really wonderful.

Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's or it's sequel. Professor Scott Cawthon the Phone Guy does.

–

Night Two- 11 PM- pre-shift

–

Plenty of sleep and two hot pockets later, Amber stood looking over the small dinner table at her roommate who was riffling through a tattered old backpack and muttering to himself. "Should I even ask what you're up to, or is this some sort of top secret guy ritual I've never heard of?"

Mike raised one hand to flip her off, continuing to check over his gear. "I'm just trying to be ready for tonight. I've got my cell phone, plenty of water, an air horn keychain, and these." He pulled out two small two-way radios. "This way we can communicate if something goes wrong, or if I see the monsters doing something weird."

"You need to stop thinking of them as monsters. They're just animatronics. I promised that I would sort out their software problems, you just need to hold out for tonight. And you don't even have to worry about the power, you've got twice as much to work with." Amber walked over and took the second walkie-talkie anyway, not minding the idea of having it around through the night.

"Your job is to watch over the place, including the robots. Damaging them isn't an option." She took the metal bar that was sticking out of the backpack and set it on the coffee table. "No tire irons or other weapons. I won't forgive you if you get us fired. It wouldn't do you any good anyway. The metal inside those things is way too heavy for you to damage on your own. It takes a lot of force to dent them."

"You're not helping my nerves any. All I got from that was 'the robots are indestructible murderers and trying to hurt them is futile'. That's the opposite of what I want to hear right now." Mike looked longingly at his weapon before grabbing his backpack and zipping it closed.

"Don't be such a baby. You won't be in any danger." she headed over to get her keys. "Come on, we need to get going if we want to be on time and set up the other generator for you."

–

Night Two- 12 AM- Mike

–

"Uhh, Hello? Hello? Uh, well, if you're hearing this and you made it to day two, uh, congrats! I-I won't talk quite as long this time since Freddy and his friends tend to become more active as the week progresses."

Mike blanched at the idea of them being even more active and looked towards the small windows nervously. He tried to tune out the voice, but the information was probably important. Some parts stood out to him and only served to make him more on edge.

"Uhh, it might be a good idea to peek at those cameras while I talk just to make sure everyone's in their proper place. - Freddy himself doesn't come off stage very often. - more active in the dark though, so, hey, I guess that's one more reason not to run out of power, right? -importance of using your door lights. There are blind spots in your camera views- right outside of your doors. So if-if you can't find something, or someone, on your cameras, be sure to check the door lights. Uh, you might only have a few seconds to react..."

Mike shook his head at that idea. He wasn't going to be checking those lights for anything. He didn't want to see their ugly faces, and all of his power was going to keeping the doors closed.

"-check on the curtain in Pirate Cove from time to time. The character in there -comes more active if the cameras remain off for long periods of time. I guess he doesn't like being watched."

Well if the fox didn't like being watched, why would he be upset the cameras were off? That made no sense whatsoever. Mike grabbed the monitor and flipped through the camera feeds, seeing the purple curtains were still shut. He flipped back to the main stage, just to see if the band had stayed still or really were more active. Just like the phone guy said, Freddy hadn't moved at all. One more glance to Pirate Cove, nodding when the curtains were still closed. Setting the monitor aside, he pulled out a water bottle and tried to relax.

Tonight was bound to be another long night, but at least he felt a bit more safe.

–

Night Two- 1:30 AM- Amber

–

The managers office had a heavy locking door and was tucked away in the back right hallway, just past the two restrooms. The computer sitting in the corner controlled the song setups and protocol for the Fazbear Band and sound systems. Amber was a bit worried that she'd be unable to access anything due to the limited power in the building, but it seemed the managers office wasn't under the same restrictions.

The whole system was old, and it took a few tries to even access the desktop properly. Already Amber had spent an hour just locating the separate animatronics files and trying to make sense of it. Mike had been right when he assumed she wouldn't initially understand it, it didn't look like any sort of code she'd seen before. She clicked out of the menus and rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out just what rules these things operated under.

Glancing up at the door she jolted upright seeing a faint yellow shape through the small frosted glass panel in the door. So Chica was outside, but it looked like she was facing away from the door, staring down the hallway.

Amber forcibly pulled her gaze away from the door, focusing back on the computer. She wasn't going to let Mike's silly fear infect her too. She picked up the small radio and decided to give Mike a buzz anyway, just to show she was looking out for him.

–

Night Two- 2AM- Mike

–

Mike yelped when he heard the crackle coming from the desk in front of him, thinking one of the animatronics had gotten in.

"Hey, Mike. Chica is in the back hallway. She's not doing anything threatening, but I just figured I'd give you a head's up."

Grabbing the offending radio he replied back. "Thanks. Good to know they're already on the loose." He picked up the monitor and checked the restrooms camera. "Is Chica the duck? I see her, she's just staring at me. Pretty damn creepy."

"Chica is a chicken. Not a duck. Just keep an eye on her okay? I'm a bit busy trying to figure things out over here, so I can't be worrying about her hanging around."

Mike flipped through the other cameras to see what else was moving around. "I'll keep checking for you. Our friend Mr. Spooky Voice-over left another message saying they get more active as the week goes on. Try to find out why that is while you're dicking around in there, would you?"

"Sure thing. Might give me a way to figure out what this all means. I'll check to see if it's tied into their scheduling. Might have to do with the cycle that turns them on at night."

"Hey, I don't care about the why's, I just want them to stop. You get back to work." Mike set the radio down to focus fully on tracking Chica and Bonnie.

"Hey, right back at you, dickface. Just don't fall asleep on me."

Mike rolled his eyes and checked the dining area. Nothing there. Freddy was still on the stage where he belonged, and as far as Mike was concerned he could stay right there. Couldn't hurt to check Pirate Cove, though there hadn't been any changes the past few times he'd peeked in. Maybe getting new legs had calmed him down some and he wouldn't move at all.

Nope. That theory was out the window. Foxy was right there behind the curtain staring at the camera. Just like the others did, probably to freak the poor night guard out. His gold eyes looked like they were glowing and it made him even more terrifying. He couldn't understand how Amber had been able to spend a whole night working on him when he was so mangled looking.

"You just stay right there and we'll both be fine." He grumbled, checking his power again to be sure he was still safe for the night. One hundred percent still shined out on his power meter reassuringly.

Chica wasn't in the bathroom camera anymore. From the sounds coming across the hall, she was banging around in the kitchen again. Likely she'd spend all night in there, blindly hitting pots like a drunken sailor. Mike enjoyed the thought and would be content to let her trash the place if it meant keeping her occupied.

–

Night Two- 3 AM- Amber

–

Going in through the internal calendar seemed to be Amber's first big break. She'd started to notice patterns and it was beginning to make sense to her. The rules she was finding seemed entirely random though.

Freddy was set to perform more frequently closer to the end of the week, capitalizing on days that had more customers. He had a light sensor installed in him, meant to keep him from free roaming during main stage numbers when the band would perform. So when the spotlight turned off, he'd know it was time to go greet the customers.

Bonnie and Chica had protocol that had them covering either side of the restaurant. One down the west hallway, and the other down the east. Sound sensors were set to pick up on where the people were, leading them right to wherever the most guests were gathered.

Still nothing was coming up about endoskeletons though. Why would they be set to police their own rules anyway? Speaking of police, there didn't seem to be any criminal databases either. Just lists of behaviors and vague physical descriptions to look out for. All it would take was a resemblance to one of the criminals described and they'd be on alert. Amber wondered if pictures of Jeremy Fitzgerald before the bite would reveal he matched one of the profiles listed. She had a sinking suspicion they would.

Even back in the '80s these people should have known about the three laws of robotics. Giving robots any sort of aggressive orders or coding was inexcusable. Feeling hesitant, Amber started to replicate the code, putting in the limitations they should have had from the start.

First, a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Second, a robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Lastly, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. She checked over the work she'd done, nodding to herself that it matched the pattern of the rest of the programming. Asimov would be proud.

She continued to search for mentions of endoskeletons, trying to see if there was any truth to what the previous guard had said. It was seeming more and more like a cruel prank, and one that was pissing her off. She had been spooked by it, but Mike had been terrified. A new data string started running on it's own, catching her attention as the window had opened by itself.

Augmented_AI_boot-up_sequence_initiate:

would you like to continue? Y/N

Amber sat back, trying to exit out and finding it wouldn't let her. If she responded no, would the animatronics shut down? It could be a file that triggered nightly and she'd just happened to be logged in when it ran. She groaned at having to make the decision. They couldn't afford to lose even a day open, and their AI was already running during the night cycle. This probably would keep them going through the pattern. Or at least that's what she hoped as she typed in

Y

–

Night Two- 4AM- Mike

–

"Someone's in the kitchen with Chica, someone's in the kitchen I know~" No one was in the kitchen _but_ Chica, but Mike was entertaining himself singing it anyway. One more check on Pirate Cove, ignoring the creepy glowing eyes.

That were suddenly sideways. Foxy had moved, and now he looked like some sick parody of the road runner, halfway leaning back into the camera view just to taunt him.

"I've been checking you constantly, when the heck did you move? Oh I am not dealing with any Wile E. Coyote antics. Not tonight. You stay right there and get back in your cove."

The cameras blacked out, something that Mike had realized happened every time the animatronics decided to move. He scanned through different feeds until it came back. Bonnie had moved from the backstage area into the dining hall. Chica was still banging around in the kitchen and Freddy was on stage like always. Everything was fine to check back on Pirate Cove.

"Well, shit." Foxy was gone. Not in the bathrooms, or the supply closet, or the east hallway.

West hallway camera came up, showing the robot _sprinting_ towards him. Mike dropped the monitor in his hands and backed up into the far corner, flinching at the banging noises hitting the door. He hit the light button, and screamed when Foxy's face appeared, looking right at him with eye patch raised up. They continued to watch each other for a long moment, Mike's eyes wide with terror, before Foxy left, wandering back down the hall. This was the first time Mike had seen any of the animatronics actually move. They usually stood in specific places, and anytime they'd travel the cameras cut out.

There was a buzzing sound, and Mike picked up the monitor, hoping it hadn't broken when he'd dropped it. He felt his stomach drop when he realized what that buzzing sound had been. The second generator had been fully drained. His power now read ninety one percent.

–

Night Two- 5AM- Amber

–

"Amber?" The walkie crackled to life and Amber finished checking over the line of code while grabbing it.

"What is it Mike, You need something?" she checked the window to be sure he wasn't warning her of some imminent threat.

"Your fucking Foxy project just ran up to my door and tried to get in. Why the hell couldn't you just leave him broken?"

"Foxy actually ran? Not just walking, but actually running?"

Amber looked at the Fileshe had been reading through, one that had been labeled as Pirate_Stuntshow.

"Why is it that's what you focus on? He was one door away from slaughtering me with that hook!"

"I doubt that's what he would have done. Besides, you have the doors, it's not like he can get to you." She closed out of the file, not wanting to be blamed for anything, even if she had only been reading it and not messing with it.

"Yeah, well, your generators dead for the night. Went out when Foxy was pulling the big bad wolf schtick. So now the power is draining again and he's already looking like he want's another shot at banging my door down."

"You managed a whole night on that amount of power without being able to use the doors. I'm sure you can last another," she checked the computers clock, "forty-five minutes. Just leave the doors open and keep checking the cameras. I haven't found any rules about being out of costume, so it was probably just some prank being pulled on you. I did figure out that they respond to sound, though. So if you're so worried about it, just keep quiet and don't use the radio while the door is open."

"If I die here, I'm haunting you for the rest of your life. I promise, this job doesn't pay enough to put me through this."

"Calm down. I've been working on this all night and I think I've solved most of the problems. The changes will take place once they reboot at six, so tomorrow will be a cake walk. How much power do you have left?" She closed out of the files, ready to sort through the last of the programs and head home.

"Seventy-three percent. Provided Foxy doesn't try to sap away any more."

"Sapping power? That's not how robots work Mike. You're probably fine to keep the doors down for the rest of the night. I'll contact you when it's six. That way you can be sure they're all back in place before we leave, okay?" She waited to hear back and frowned after she got no reply. "Uh, Mike?"

"Fucking fox is out to get me. Powers down to sixty-six percent. I don't care what you say, he's stealing my power and trying to kill me." Mike's voice was strained and panicky, and a dull pounding sound could be heard in the background. "He won't go away, he just keeps watching through the window."

Amber slowly stood up from her seat. "Mike, I'm going to stop talking to you now. I want you to keep quiet and just keep an eye on things okay?" She set the radio down on the desk and went to the door, checking through the glass for Chica before unlocking and edging it open. They were attracted to sound, so in theory all she had to do was be loud enough to shift their focus. Taking a deep breath, she questioned her sanity before bellowing out an old verse her grandfather had taught her as a child.

"If the sea were whiskey, and I were a duck, I'd swim to the bottom, and drink my way up!" She slammed the door back closed, locking it and diving back for the desk. Logically, she knew there was no proof that she should be afraid of these things, but the night was getting to her, and hearing the banging noises through the radio had shaken her up. Her door was solid, and there was only thirty minutes remaining before the free roaming mode would be through. It would have to be enough.

–

Night 2- End- 6 AM

–

Mike ran through the now calm dining hall and barreled past the bathroom towards the managers office. Amber was already exiting, looking frazzled after the final stretch of the night.

"You are some special sort of crazy aren't you? What the heck were you thinking?" He checked behind him repeatedly, remembering the moment of fear when Foxy had turned tail and ran towards the loudly sung sea shanty.

"It worked. We're both fine and now I know when they start to head back to their places. Five minutes to six is when you can stop worrying." She moved past him and nodded in approval at seeing the Fazbear Band sitting in their daily positions. Pirate Cove was closed, the fox inside standing in idle mode as if he hadn't just spent twenty minutes standing outside the manager's office door.

"What were you even singing?" Mike followed, backpack held in one hand as a potential weapon in case the creatures decided to wake back up.

"First thing that popped into my head. Didn't want to scare you by screaming. Did you have enough power?" She waved tiredly to the day manager who was unlocking the front entrance doors.

"Yeah. It was quiet for the rest of the night." Mike went silent as the blonde woman walked past them towards the kitchen. He stayed quiet until they were at the car when he suddenly started chuckling, the sound growing into booming laughter.

Amber paused in unlocking her door, worried her friend had finally cracked. "What's so funny?"

Mike shook his head and looked back towards the restaurant's front doors. "I just realized that day shift has to clean up after Chica each night."

–

AN: I was afraid when I was starting this chapter that it would be too short. Now it's one of the longest chapters I've written so far. Has anyone else thought about the day shift cleaning up after Chica? She spends a lot of time clanking around in the kitchen, so just what is she doing? Making pizza? I like to think that she just stumbles around with a soup pot on her foot the whole time.

The song is one my dad told me when I was a kid, and has no real meaning in the story. It really was the first thing that came to mind. What's funny is he never got the verse right. It actually goes "If the sea were whiskey, and I were a diving duck, I'd dive down to the bottom, and I don't know if I'd come up."

I have mixed feelings about this chapter. It's hard to describe what Amber is doing exactly. Writing someone going through computer code is hard to make sound interesting when you yourself know nothing about coding. Big obvious fact: the system I've described running this pizzeria, is NOT how animatronics work, but for the sake of this story, I say it is.

Just go with it.

Tell me if you liked this chapter now that there was a little bit more action going on. It gets more intense as the week progresses you know.

-Red


	6. Family matters

AN: Chapter six, another day chapter. Meta, you make my day. You're the type of reviewer that every author hopes to get. The feedback is very much appreciated. Makes me happy to know you're enjoying this! Every person who follows this story, I get a nice little email telling me about it and it does my heart good to know you're looking out for these new chapters!

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Nights at Freddy's or it's sequel.

–

Mike was still laughing sporadically when they made it up to their apartment, and Amber was worried he'd really suffered some sort of mental breakdown. "It's not all that funny. That's a bunch of added work that needs to be done each day. It's not good for the company."

Mike breathed in deeply to try and control himself and rein in the hysteria. "Aw, fuck the company. I can't believe you're taking this so well after what just happened." He went to grab a soda and flopped down on their squashy brown couch before popping the tab open. "What makes this job so special you'd put both of us through this?"

"Hey, I told you, so long as you find a new job first, I don't mind you quitting. Don't try to make my out as the bad guy here. Tonight was just a fluke. It was a bit creepy, but it's not like I was hurt, and seeing those files cleared up a lot of questions I had. They go towards noise because they're programmed to entertain. Foxy probably just wanted to show a magic trick or something." She hung up her jacket before heading over to the freezer to forage for food.

"A magic trick? Seriously, Amber you can't really believe that. You just keep parroting the same things. Faulty software, or glitches, or whatever, why can't you just admit those things are dangerous?" The soda was set aside on the coffee table so he could sit up and look at her over the back of the couch. "You could work during the day just as easily as you are at night. Instead you insist on staying after hours when those things come to life. Do you not trust me to be able to take care of myself or something?"

"No! It has nothing to do with you. I just don't want there to be any bad press for the restaurant. If customers see me working on the animatronics, rumors are bound to spread about them not being safe. You saw for yourself that there's a bad history, and I don't want to do anything that's going to cause more problems." A pack of frozen peas and some orange juice concentrate stared back at her bleakly. She slammed the door closed again in disgust.

"Why do it at all? You could have just written a paper for your class and found a job through a temp agency. I get that it's your uncle's place, but he's a grown adult, he'll be fine on his own, and you can just focus on what's best for you." He kept his tone even, not wanting this to be an argument.

"You know, you sound exactly like my parents right now. They make it clear every time I see them that they think I shouldn't be hanging around someone like you because it'll only hold me back. I never listen to them because I know they're wrong, and right now so are you. It's not foolish to worry about the people you care for. Uncle Eddy needs my help, but he's not taking advantage of me. He's trying to make this benefit all of us. And because I respect and care about him, I'm going to do everything in my power to meet him halfway. Even if it is inconvenient for me." She crossed her arms and glared as best as she could, irritated.

"Now are you going to keep questioning my choices, or are we going to go find some breakfast? Because frankly, I'm too hungry to deal with you when you're being a bitch, and I need some damn waffles." 

"What do you mean, someone like me? Just what about me is so awful?" Mike was frustrated she'd bring up her parents and suggest he was anything like them.

"Mike, just drop it. You know my parents are stupid about some things. They can't look past their own picket fence stereotypes. If I let them decide my opinions I'd be some sort of Stepford wife by now. You're awesome. Can we please just leave it at that? I cannot handle fighting with you over this. I just want to eat and get some sleep." She rubbed at her eyes and slumped her shoulders forward.

Mike stood up and tucked his hands into his pockets. They'd had a hellish night, and tensions were high. Fighting over it wouldn't help either of them, and seeing how set his best friend was about going back meant he'd never convince her otherwise. She'd looked out for him, risking herself in the process. Just like she always did. "Okay. We get paid in a few days right? I'll dip into my emergency funds and we'll get some breakfast wherever you want. My treat. You did all the work tonight anyway. I just sat around like a chicken."

"Well you can face your fears tonight. The new programming should have kicked in by now. So tonight you won't even have to worry about the doors. I might even have you help me work on Foxy, I need to keep him still while I reframe his face, and I might need some back up." Jackets were thrown back on to ward of the early morning air.

"No talking about work right now. It's not good for my mental health."

–

"So, you never did explain about your uncle. If you're so willing to help him out, I can only assume he's nothing like your parents." Mike was curled over his cup of coffee, coveting the caffeine while they waited on their orders, tucked away in a back booth at the only diner open so early in the morning.

"Thought you didn't want to talk about work. Or is this just you being nosy?" Amber doctored her tea with a few sugar packets and watched out the diner's windows.

"This is me being nosy." Mike admitted easily. "So spill. What's the deal? Don't spare any details, you're family acts way too perfect all the time. There must be a ton of skeletons in their closets."

Amber snorted. "It's not as scandalous as you're probably thinking. Uncle Eddy never has been the pretentious type. Dad always thought he should have focused on an upscale gourmet restaurant, but the whole animatronic entertainment thing was a good enough idea at the time to warrant investing. Freddy Fazbear's was really the first business of it's kind to be successful. Not that you'd be able to tell these days." She took a sip of her tea before continuing. "I never really knew what had happened to make that change. After reading about it, I can understand why the family never talks about it. It's not something you want to dwell on over Christmas dinner."

"The Bite?" Mike prompted, wanting to hear more.

"Yeah. I've been thinking about it all night. There's no real media coverage about it. Obviously people know about it, since it hurt the business so bad, but the stories are all different. It's more like an urban legend. I have a theory as to how it got covered up though. I'm almost positive my dad had something to do with keeping the reporters quiet. It would be just like him, and I know he's not an investor anymore." They grew quiet as their food arrived, the awkward conversation pause that always came around waitresses.

Taking a bite of bacon, Mike chewed before offering his opinion. "Backing out the second things get rough? Your dad doesn't have much faith in his brother, does he?"

"Brother-In-Law. Uncle Eddy is on my mom's side. If he was from dad's side of the family money wouldn't be an issue for him right now. I'm not surprised Dad backed out though. From an investors point of view, it makes sense to leave when a business stops being profitable." Amber focused on drowning her waffles in syrup, pushing her hair back to keep it out of her face.

"So how does this all relate to you?" Mike raised his coffee mug to signal for a refill, watching Amber scarf down her breakfast.

"Uncle Eddy always backed me up when I was a kid, and when I moved out he convinced my mom to help pay for my tuition. There was a college fund set aside for me, and he wasn't going to let my dad spend it on a jet ski just because I refused to go into the field he wanted."

"Wait, your dad was really going to use your college fund on himself just because you decided to have interests of your own? Jeeze Amber, your family is messed up." Amber shrugged at the comment, not denying it.

"I like my uncle. He's a good guy who's had really crappy luck. I saw an opportunity to help both him and me and I took it. I want to make Freddy Fazbear's into what it should have been from the start. Make the company into something great and rub it in my dad's face." She seemed even happier at the idea.

"Well, I can't argue with a goal like that. I still think the place is freaky, but I guess I can back you up if it means so much to you."

Amber drained the last of her tea and set the mug back down, scooting out of the booth so they could leave. "I'm glad. Now pay the nice people and let's get out of here. Unlike you, I didn't drink a ton of coffee, and I just want to go to sleep now."

"So demanding. Alright bossy, you start the car and I'll sort things out here. Don't you dare leave without me." He warned, pulling out his wallet. Amber just waved him off while heading out to her car, keys in hand. The night was catching up to her, and she'd need all the rest she could get for the work that was still ahead of her.

–

AN: I'm sorry this chapter is so short, I actually can relate to Amber's exhaustion pretty well right now, I just came off of 32 straight hours awake and I'm ready to crash. It's 6:30 in the morning where I am and I'm going to catch a few hours myself before I have to get up again to do food shopping. Next chapter will be Night Three and I've got something planned for it.

As always, please let me know your thoughts, Constructive criticism is always welcome! Let me know if there is anything glaringly wrong with this chapter, and I will do what I can to fix it after I've had some sleep.

-Red


	7. Third night

AN: Well, I've taken some time to rest up and now we move into night 3! I'm still unhappy with how the last chapter came out, so I might rewrite it at a later date. Clearly I shouldn't write while I'm that sleep deprived. Night 3 is really when the game starts to get good, and this is when we're going to veer off from normal game play. I can't have Mike always hiding in the security office after all.

Shout out to my reader(s?) in Brunei Darussalam. (don't know if that's the correct name of the country, it's just what recognizes it as.) I ended up researching the country and spent about an hour today reading about it. Very cool stuff. I'm always happy when I find out something new, so thanks for existing I guess? Pretty cool to see just how far this story travels around the world once it gets sent out from my little computer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

Night 3- 11:45 PM- Pre-Shift

–

"Mike, hand me the mortorq screwdriver bit. It's in the toolbox behind you." Amber was holding Foxy's jaw up in place and had a screw slotted into place. They'd come in an hour early to work on the fox's facial structures, since Amber wasn't sure if she'd be able to work on him at all while his AI was activated. Currently the metal framework was on display, the furred face plates removed so she could reshape the jaws and clean the rusted sections around the facial joints. She'd had to spend the first twenty minutes they'd been there just cleaning the grime that had built up around the processors and speakers inside of his head.

"I have no idea what that is. What does it look like?" Mike stared into the box confused. He knew basic screwdriver shapes, but when it came to tools and fixing things, he was pretty useless. He just had his roommate fix the things around their apartment.

"the cross shape looks like," Amber paused in trying to describe it, deciding it would be too difficult. "Never mind, just bring the toolbox over. I can't describe it well enough and I don't want to still be holding this jaw when he activates."

The toolbox was set within reach and she dug out the driver she needed. Mike was nervously checking his watch at the reminder that these robots would be moving around soon. "You think you'll be done in time to get his face back on? He's scary enough on a normal day, but I don't want to see him moving around when he just looks like a metal cage sitting on a fur suit."

"The plates aren't going to fit quite right. I still need to reshape them to fit the frame and replace his fur. it would be easier if he just had a removable head like the others, but his jaw and ears are all different segment pieces. I'll have them back on tonight, but it's not going to be a perfect fit." the screws were tightened the last bit and she moved the jaw piece up and down to be sure it wouldn't flap about anymore. The top section of his head slid on easily, and the bottom piece clicked into place as well, covering the new jaw and moving around just as smoothly when she checked it. "Hand me his ear pieces, I'm going to attach them and see if they move properly."

Mike picked them up, looking at the metal nubs on the end that screwed onto the tiny motors inside Foxy's head. "It's weird seeing inside of these things. Like I'm looking at a persons insides or something." he handed over the ears and watched as she put them back in place.

"Well, they work in the same way. I'm no doctor, but I imagine that if you were to look at a human beings tendons, they'd look similar to the wiring on an endoskeleton." She shifted the ears up and down, rotating them to see if they would swivel as well now that they had been oiled.

"That's too creepy to think about. I could never be a doctor." He checked his watch again and stood up. "It's about time for me to head to my office. Keep the curtains open so I can check on you. If anything looks like it's going to malfunction you contact me."

"I might need your help later on. I don't know how Foxy behaved during the nights before he got damaged, but he's fully mobile again if last night was any indication." She glanced down at the still exposed lower legs, standing steady as they had since the morning before. "I added new coding to them last night, and this will be the first time they have these parameters. I have no way of knowing how it will affect their behaviors. Just keep an eye on things while I work. I'll call if I think I need help."

Mike nodded and headed back to his office to clock in before the power would cut. Amber set her tools aside and flipped on her work lights, staying a few steps back from the animatronic pirate to watch what would happen when the night cycle took over.

–

Night 3- 12 AM- Mike

–

The lights cut out just as Mike was settling into his office chair. Right on schedule the phone began to ring. He was tempted to just mute the thing, knowing it would only put him on edge, but there was a tiny voice of anxiety telling him to pay attention in case it wasn't all an elaborate prank. The ringing stopped as the message kicked in, the old night guards voice filling the room.

"_Hello, hello? Hey you're doing great! Most people don't last this long. I mean, you know, they usually move on to other things by now. I'm not implying that they died. Th-th-that's not what I meant. Uh, anyway I better not take up too much of your time. Things start getting real tonight."_

Mike listened carefully and wondered just what that was supposed to mean. Things had seemed pretty real the past two nights, and if everyone who worked this job had to deal with what he'd been through already, it was no wonder they had quit. Amber had assured him she'd been through all of the programs though and fixed it. So he should have nothing to worry about. He picked up the monitor just to be safe. After all, if they were even more active tonight, they'd be moving around in no time.

"_Uh... Hey, listen, I had an idea: if you happen to get caught and want to avoid getting stuffed into a Freddy suit, uhh, try playing dead! You know, go limp. Then there's a chance that, uh, maybe they'll think that you're an empty costume instead. Then again if they think you're an empty costume, they might try to... stuff a metal skeleton into you. I wonder how that would work. Yeah, never mind, scratch that. It's best just not to get caught._

_Um... Ok, I'll leave you to it. See you on the flip side."_

The message cut out and Mike scowled at it. There had been nothing useful said. It just sounded like more nightmare fuel to make him on edge and probably get him to quit. He felt annoyed that he'd been so worked up about the messages before, falling victim to the stupid prank.

Bonnie was out, the fastest he'd ever left the main stage so far. Mike cut to Pirate Cove's camera to check that Amber was okay with the rabbit moving around the room in sight of her, and that she'd kept the curtains open like he'd asked her to. He yelped when he saw what was on the camera feed.

–

Night 3- 12 AM- Amber

–

Foxy had been passively watching her while she worked but there was a noticeable change in focus as the lights turned off and his AI kicked on. His ears swiveled up and down once and his eye patch flipped up for a moment before going back to it's normal down position. Even his stance seemed less stiff, the joints of his knees flexing and relaxing as if in a stretch. Through it all Amber kept her gaze on him to gauge how well he was functioning and whether he would start running at her like he had before.

Taking a step forward she stiffened when his head tilted down to look at her. It was a bit unsettling to see him just standing there when he probably should have been trying to get her to buy pizza or play one of the stupid guessing games like the others did during the day. She was afraid she'd somehow compromised his controls when she'd changed his coding.

"Reme-mem-mber to f-follow the rules at Freddy Fazbear's. We-we want everyone to h-have a f-fun -funnnn-nnn time." Amber spun around quickly to see Bonnie standing in the middle of the dining area, turned to look at her rather than facing towards the cameras. Bonnie had never had issues with the pre-recorded speeches during the day hours, so hearing the mechanical stuttering was jarring.

It wasn't her job to fix any of the band, she was technically only supposed to work on Foxy until she'd proven herself, but if her programming had caused this problem she needed to at least check it out. Bonnie's head was jerking in a way that had her concerned for the internal mechanics. She moved to the edge of the stage, ready to go and examine the issue when she felt a large hand grip her shoulder, pulling her back several paces and pinning her in place.

She could hear the faint hum of electronic motors whirring and feel the faux fur against the back of her head. Looking up she saw Foxy staring out into the room, his eye patch flipped up to lock both golden eyes on Bonnie. His grip wasn't painful, but it also wasn't letting up. She was actually afraid of the sudden move, not sure what the robot was doing, but knowing it was bad that he was behaving so unpredictably.

She flinched as the mouth opened up, half expecting to be bitten like Jeremy. She didn't expect to hear the pirate actually speak when he hadn't ever done so before.

"Beggin' yer pardon lass, but ye be about to break one of the rules of this here fine establishment, and that just ain't permitted. It be up to ol' Foxy to keep things runnin' proper-like, you see?" He looked down at her and Amber was shocked into silence at the level of interaction he was showing so suddenly.

It took her a full minute to shock her brain into trying to figure out what had happened to cause this change in behaviors. "Uh, exactly what rule was I breaking? I was just going to check on Bonnie." The furry hand was still settled on her shoulder and it was making her a bit uneasy, unsure of what sort of trouble she'd be in if her uncle found out about this incident. Had she been a customer during daytime hours, a grab from the robot would likely be seen as threatening and just as bad as the bite.

"Ye be about to put yerself in harms way, and it be in me captains charter that it be me sworn duty to protect you and any other laddie or lass from any ill winds or misfortunes." Foxy nodded out to the now empty room. "This here cove be a safe haven, but elsewhere ye'll find naught but perils and a gruesome end. Ye were walkin' the plank right towards the sharks open jaws."

"What, you think I'm in danger from Bonnie? But everyone should all be following the same protocol. Why would I be in any danger?" It sounded like this captains charter was her own programming kicking in, but what had made Foxy see the others as a threat when he should be able to recognize their electronic signature?

"Yarr, the others be villainous curs, wit' wicked intentions of their own design. Tis a struggle, caught between their own minds and the force what moves 'em to evil acts." Amber felt like her head was spinning, trying to decipher the pirate's speech into something she could make sense of.

"So the others are dangerous but you aren't? Is that right? What would the others do to me exactly?" She felt a bit silly for talking to a robot, but he still had a grip on her. The reactions he was giving to her questions and the understanding he was displaying showed that his AI was far more advanced then she had expected.

"That ain't somethin' to be tellin a lass like you. It be far too nasty a thing to burden yer ears wit'. Just ye be knowin' it ain't a pretty end for the one who be caught." The hand let go of her slowly and she rotated her shoulder to work out the tenseness, less eager to step off of the stage now that she knew it was some sort of 'base'.

"Why do they follow the rules about Pirate Cove but not about harming humans? How can they ignore specific rules?" She stepped away from the fox, but was sure to move in the direction of the fake pirate ship so she didn't get caught again.

"Some rules can be bent lass. Can't say I know how they do it, but I know they do. I've seen it before from my own curtains. Tried to warn others before ye, but just ended up wit a door to me face."

Amber's eyes widened at the mention of the doors. "Mike could be in danger. Bonnie isn't here, which means he's probably heading towards the security office." She glanced at the stage and saw only Freddy, still standing quiet, though his face was turned at a different angle, facing the cameras like he sometimes did. "And Chica is gone too, which means she's either in the bathrooms or down the east hallway. He might not have any escape route."

Digging through the tools in her box she yanked out the two way radio and brought it up to warn her best friend before it was too late.

–

Night 3- 3 AM- Mike

–

Mike had watched as Amber was caught and held in place by the pirate fox. The sight of the animatronics jaw moving had surprised him and he figured out quickly the two were actually talking to each other. The sight was interesting and he decided to keep his eye on the situation in case something else happened to put Amber in danger.

This left the rest of the building unsupervised and he didn't think about the other robots until he heard an out of place wheezing, sounding like a choking animal fighting for air. He looked up from the monitor to check and jumped back, seeing Bonnie was leaning in the hallway like he had the first two nights. The gasping noises were coming even louder, and he slammed the door shut on instinct, unwilling to interact with the disturbing creature. Checking the other door, he found an empty hall, but closed the door anyway. The sounds had been far too human and instilled him with a sharp terror.

The radio crackled to life and he picked up the monitor to check on Amber while she talked to him, afraid something had happened while he was looking away.

"Mike, we have a problem. Bonnie and Chica might be more dangerous than I thought. Foxy says they can ignore some of the rules. Specifically, the ones that are supposed to stop them from hurting humans. I don't know if it's still true, since it's not been tested since the new rules went into place, but I'm worried about you being stuck back there without extra power."

Mike paled and checked his door lights before grabbing his radio to respond. "Bonnie was just here and he sounded like something from a horror movie. I closed both doors but I can't hold out all night like that. I don't know how active they are, I wasn't following them very much until now."

There was silence from the radio and Mike watched as his best friend talked to the fox pirate, nodding at something he said before returning her attention back to him. "Mike, Foxy is going to come get you. Don't freak out okay? He hasn't hurt me at all, and he's had more than enough time to be able to. Pirate Cove is apparently an area that's off limits to the other animatronics, and they do follow that rule. You'll be safe here until morning."

The security guard glanced towards the West hall door, flashing the door light to see Bonnie had left. He scanned through the cameras to see he'd retreated into the supply closet, staring right up into the camera and twitching in a way he hadn't the past two days.

"Alright Amber, the west hall is clear for now, but Bonnie's just inside the supply closet. Foxy better be fast and able to cover me if we end up getting chased." He scanned the different feeds to check on where the others were and caught Foxy running down the west hall just like he had the night before. The difference was this time when he banged on the door, Mike opened it.

It took a good amount of courage to do it. He was still quite afraid and distrustful of the animatronic, but he had to trust Amber's judgment or be facing zero power and another visit from Bonnie and Chica. Foxy looked a lot less disturbing with his jaw intact once more, and Mike found himself sticking close to his red furred side as they ran back up the hall towards the main room and the safety of Pirate's Cove.

There was a considerable amount of adrenaline pounding through his veins as he spotted Chica entering the room from the opposite hall. It was only made worse when he heard the supply room door open and could see Freddy standing on stage. He dove towards where Amber was seated, back against the boards of the decorative pirate ship. Foxy was behind him, walking up the steps of the stage and turning to look out into the room again, giving him some time to recover.

Amber breathed out a small sigh of relief as Mike calmed down from his panicked flight. "I'm sorry Mike. If you want to quit after tonight, I promise I won't hold it against you. I'm not going to try to kick you out or anything, this isn't something I want you to have to go through."

"Shut up Amber. You thought it was safe, and there's no way you could have known any differently. I'm not mad, and I'm not quitting when I know you're just going to keep coming back here by yourself if I do." He turned to look at Foxy and jerked back with a scream to see Chica and Bonnie were standing just by the edge of the stage watching them. Amber even flinched at the sight, scooting her legs in as close to her body as she could.

"Foxy, how do we make them go away?" She asked with a tiny voice, her throat tight with fear. In response, Foxy pulled the purple curtains closed, hiding the others from their sight, even if they were still standing just outside the fabric. It was quiet for a few moments before there was the sudden sound of laughing, the pitch lowered and slowed to where it resounded with an echoing bass.

Foxy moved from the edge of the stage to join the two humans near his ship. "Now, now, don't be worried none. Yer safe as can be here in me cove, and we got me fine sailing vessel docked right here wit' room enough fer least ten able-bodied sailors. Captain Foxy won't be lettin' his crew fall into peril."

Amber looked up at the comment, wanting to ask more questions, but too overwhelmed to think of what to say first. She'd thank him, but would it really mean anything to him? He was still a robot after all, though at the moment that was hard to remember. Instead she just got up and moved to her tools, getting her gear in order. "If we're all her anyway we might as well work. Foxy, If you can sit down on the deck there, I can get to work on checking your wiring."

"Arr, so, ye really have been tamperin' wit' me insides? I had me suspicions." He waved his hook in the air in a show of pirate bravado. "Ain't no need to be messin' wit' the likes o' me. Best you focus yer efforts on things that need it."

Amber ignored him. "It's not tampering, I've been hired on to fix you. So until I deem you fixed, you're mine. Now go sit down please Captain."

The order worked, and soon enough, Amber was settled down with Mike holding her tools and hard at work examining every exposed wire and bit of metal for signs of damage, writing all the problems she found so she'd know what to fix later when Foxy was inactive.

"Time to be heading back to me post." Foxy remarked, his head cocked a bit to the side. "Ye'll be quite alright now. The bilge rats be scampering back to their hole." Mike checked his watch to find it five minutes until six AM.

"I guess we've been working for a few hours already. It's time to clock out." He looked nervously at the curtains, not wanting to go near them because he was afraid of peeking out and seeing the others so close again.

Amber tossed her tools into their box and stretched her back, cracking her neck to get the kinks out. Watching Foxy settle back into his place on the stage she suddenly reached out and hugged him, feeling fond of the red furred creature for keeping them safe all night. "Thanks, Foxy. You have a good sleep." she let go and looked up, seeing he'd fallen into his inactive mode already. "Six AM. Time to go home."

"Aw. That's cute. And here I thought you only saw these things as objects." Mike teased her a bit, calling her on her out of character actions.

"Shut up Mike. It's hard to think of them as just things after what we just went through." She peeked out of the curtains to check the coast was clear before fully exiting the cove. Mike followed close behind. "We're going straight home and then to bed. I'm just too stressed out to eat anything right now,and I need sleep before I do anything else. I have to ask my uncle about the other night guards. I'm starting to think the bite wasn't the only thing my dad has helped cover up."

–

Night 3- End

–

AN: Whooo. Less jumping around in this chapter, but a lot went down, and now we have Foxy! Amber is now fighting with herself on how she should be treating the animatronics. Up until now she's been very nonchalant about the whole thing because to her they've been nothing up big toys. That feelings changing now that she's had to confront the fact that they might have a kind of free will.

This one was hard to write. Foxy's speech is killer on me to keep up with. Might put it to a vote. Should he keep the pirate talk, or would you prefer if he toned it down and just spoke normally?

Please review, from here on out, I have a lot less outlined. I really would like to hear your thoughts on what's happening. What are your theories? What is that lets the Fazbear Band that let's them ignore the three laws? I'd love to hear your guesses! Updates might slow down but I'll still be updating a few times a week.

-Red


	8. Unfortunate circumstance

AN: I am very touched by all the kind reviews that came in from the last chapter. I got more reviews and follows for last chapter than any of the others and it makes me do a little happy dance. It seems to be a general agreement that Foxy's pirate accent needs to be toned down, and I fully agree, if only because writing pirate speak is difficult.

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Nights at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

The drive home was filled with the sound of a radio station playing classic rock music, sometimes interrupted by commercials for local car dealerships and restaurants. Everything seemed like a normal morning until they were parked in their complex's parking garage. Amber pulled the keys out of the ignition, but made no move to get out of the car.

"I just don't understand anything right now." Amber confessed, gripping the keys in her hand tightly.

Mike turned from where he had been getting out, not expecting it when she had been quiet the whole drive home. "Well, what's bothering you the most?"

She slumped forward and rested her forehead on the steering wheel. "So many things. I don't know where to start. Nothing about last night makes any sense to me. Robots can't do anything other than what they're programmed to. That's just a fact. They aren't alive. They can't make their own choices. So what the hell happened back there?"

Mike didn't know how to respond. Amber was the one who worked with this kind of thing, not him. He didn't have any answers or ideas about what to do. But sitting in a car wouldn't solve anything. He climbed out of the car and went around to the driver's side, opening the door and crouching down so he could see Amber's face. "Hey, I'm not a genius or anything, but I know this isn't the place to be having a meltdown. Get up and let's just get inside. I'll figure out something to make for dinner for us, and you can go relax a bit. Try figuring it out once you've regrouped."

Amber sighed deeply before sitting back and nodding, unbuckling her seat belt and climbing out. She made sure she locked the car doors before following him to their apartment.

Mike rummaged around their mostly empty pantry to pull together something to cook while his roommate took a shower and changed into pajamas. He'd managed to get a pot of pasta on their tiny stove up to boil by the time she returned, still looking a bit out of it, but at least clean and more comfortable.

"I'm almost done, why don't you turn on the TV and see what's on, maybe try to get your mind off of things for a bit?" He could tell Amber was overwhelmed when she didn't make any sarcastic comments, just following his suggestion and curling up on the couch with the remote in her hand.

Mike was worried whenever she got to be this stressed. Usually she was the one taking care of him when he got into one of his moods. He pulled the pot off the stove, straining out the water and apportioning out their meals. Dumping sauce over the noodles, he carried the plates with him to join her in front of the TV.

"Huh, Looney Tunes? I'm guessing it's still too early for normal programming." He handed her a plate and settled in on the other side of the couch.

"It's still just early morning infomercials and syndicated shows from the '70s. Don't complain, old cartoons rock." She ate while keeping her eyes trained on the screen. She wasn't really focused on what was happening, but any distraction was enough to keep her mind from thinking in circles. Mike stayed quiet, glancing over periodically to check how she was doing.

"I'm not going to break into a panic attack Mike. You can stop worrying." Amber took both of their empty plates to the sink. "I have no idea what is going on, but I'm going to find out. There has to be a logical explanation for what's going on. Foxy was absolutely fine, so it's got to be some code the others have that's messing them up."

Mike turned the TV off and laid his head against the back of the couch. "So you're back to thinking everything can be explained by a virus or malfunction?"

"What else can I possibly think? That has to be the reason." She had to think logically or she'd be too unsettled to get any sleep.

Mike shrugged. "Amber, after what I saw last night, I don't know what to think. Those robots seemed to know exactly what they were doing, and I don't know what kind of person would program dancing animals to become killers. Maybe what we're dealing with can't be explained by science."

"Don't say things like that. It sounds too much like supernatural hokum. I know you're smarter than that." she frowned before heading off towards her room. "I'm going to get some sleep, and then I'm going to go see my uncle and get some answers. I need to know if anything has happened like this before."

"Are you sure this is all worth it? Foxy is on his way to being completely repaired, couldn't you just shut the others down and remake them?"

"I'm not that talented. Sure, I can patch up some of the problems and fix a few bugs, but creating that sort of software is far beyond my skill level. They might be scary to us, but those animatronics are the only things keeping the place open. Until we're making enough money to pay for new equipment, we're forced to deal with what we have." Amber clearly wasn't pleased with the situation, but she was back to normal compared to how she'd behaved before. "Good," she paused, looking at the sun coming in through their window, "Well, morning I guess is the right word. I'll see you tonight. Get some sleep, and take a shower, for heaven's sake. You're going to be fired for stinking the place up if you don't."

Mike rolled his eyes at the suggestion but got up anyway, figuring he was due for a shower and it would probably help him sleep.

–

A ringing noise woke the two up from their sleep only a few hours later. It stopped briefly as the answering machine kicked on, only for the ringing to pick back up less than a minute later. Mike stumbled out of his room to grab the offending cordless phone, scowling when he saw the number displayed. He opened Amber's door and chucked the ringing devil at her grumbling all the while. "It's your damn parents. No respect for people who work nights."

Amber groaned and fumbled about for the phone, hitting answer as she did so. "Hello? Mom?" she sat up when her mothers panicked voice finally filtered through the sleep fog.

"Whoa, Mom calm down, what's happened?" She kicked her blankets off and moved to awkwardly get changed while still holding the phone. "Yeah, I can be there in a half hour, I'm already heading out the door, I'll call you when I get there."

Mike was still in the living room as she hurried her way through, hanging up the phone and digging around for her cell phone, the device showing she'd missed fifteen calls from her mother while she'd slept.

"What's up? Why are you in such a rush, something happen?" he mumbled, waking up a bit more when he saw how quickly the woman was moving.

"Uncle Eddy is in the hospital. I don't know all the details, but Mom says it's serious. I'm heading out there just as soon as I find my wallet." She picked up a pile of mail to look under it as she spoke.

Mike picked up the object in question from the end table and shook it towards her. "Here. You want me to come with you? You're a bit shaken right now. I can drive if you'd like."

She snatched the wallet up and tucked it into her jeans pocket. "Only if you don't mind? You could just go back to sleep, you probably need it after last night."

Mike waved off the idea. "I'll be fine. I'm worried about the boss too, just let me change into some jeans and we can head out."

The drive to the hospital only took twenty minutes, and Amber's mother was waiting for them when they arrived. Dressed in a tailored pantsuit and pearls, she stood out from the others in the waiting room, looking like a high-end model that had wandered into the waiting room on accident. "Oh sweetheart, I'm so glad you're here. They won't let me in to see him just yet. Oh, it's just terrible."

"What happened? Is he going to be alright?" Amber led her mother over to take a seat in the corner, Mike hanging back so that he didn't disturb the moment.

"I don't know the details. There was a car accident while your uncle was on his way to work, it took them a long time to get him out of the wreck, and the doctors say there was a lot of damage. He's been in surgery for hours." At this the woman began to cry again. "No one will tell me anything, and I've been stuck sitting here with these strangers. Your father is away on business, so I tried getting a hold of you, but you wouldn't answer. Why were you ignoring my calls?"

Amber rubbed her mothers back, refusing to fall for the passive aggressive trap. "My cell was in the other room mom. I'm sorry I couldn't hear it, I was sleeping."

"Well, you shouldn't be asleep this late in the day. It's not normal. How are you ever going to manage in school if you keep being so lazy?" As was usual, the criticisms had made an appearance. The worry must have made her mother even more judgmental, this was the fastest she'd ever scolded her daughter, and in public no less.

"Mom, I work the night shift. I have to sleep during the day. I promise, I'm not sleeping through any of my classes." Mike kept his mouth shut tight, knowing better than to willingly involve himself where his friends parents were concerned. If things continued the way they usually did, he'd just be blamed for Amber's supposedly bad behaviors in a few minutes anyway.

"Amber, you're much too talented to be working the night shift. That's for lazy, unskilled people like your roommate." Mike rolled his eyes at the comment, thinking to himself how predictable these conversations were getting after years of the same arguments being thrown back and forth.

"Sylvia, I'm surprised at how rude you're being. I leave for five minutes and I come back to you arguing already." Amber looked up to see her Aunt Sarah coming towards them with two large Styrofoam cups of coffee. She stood up to hug the woman, careful of the hot beverage.

"Aunt Sarah. I came just as soon as I found out. Is there any news yet?" She pulled back to look at the dainty older woman.

"Not yet. I've been told he's stable though, and the doctors I was able to get a hold of said they think he's going to make it, but I'm sure this is going to be a long recovery process. I've called your cousins, and they're going to be flying in tomorrow." She turned and looked towards Mike who had stood up when she'd first entered. "Now, who is this young man? I don't believe I've met him before."

Mike nodded. "I'm Mike. Amber's 'lazy and unskilled' roommate. Your husband hired me on as the new night guard just this week ma'am." He felt a small amount of satisfaction when Amber's mother flushed a bright red, obviously just now noticing that he'd been present in the room this whole time

"Oh really now? Well then I'm sorry we had to meet like this, I'm sure if Edward hired you, then you must be a very hard worker." Sarah gave a strained smile while Sylvia excused herself to go to the bathroom. Once she was out of earshot, the older woman apologized. "Please don't pay any mind to my sister-in-law. She may be my Edwards sister, but she's gotten so used to her sheltered life, she doesn't understand what the real world is like for those of us who actually have to work for our wages."

"Oh it's fine ma'am. I'm used to Amber's parent's by now. It's nothing I can't handle." Just as Mike was speaking, a few doctors came into the waiting room, looking around until they spotted their small group clustered in the corner.

"I think the news is in."Amber muttered, reaching out to wrap her arm around her aunt in support. "Let's hear what they have to say."

"Mrs. Bushnell? Your husband Edward made it through surgery just fine. His injuries are going to take a long time to recover though, and in order to spare him any pain, we're going to place him into a medical coma. It's perfectly safe, it's just to ensure his comfort and speed up the healing process." Amber felt her aunt slump against her slightly in relief at hearing her husband was going to be okay. She tuned out the rest of the medical jargon, getting the point that it would be some time before her uncle would be able to be woken up.

As happy as Amber was for the good news, she also had a problem now. She couldn't ask anyone about what was happening with the pizzeria or the animatronics. She could ask her aunt, but there was no guarantee she'd know anything, and this was certainly not the time to cause even more problems for the family by bringing up potential problems in the business.

In the end, Amber stayed at the hospital for another hour before she and Mike left for home, no mentions made of the problems the two night shift workers faced. Mike seemed to understand why she couldn't bring herself to burden her aunt with their troubles. Instead he waited until they were heading back home to ask her what was on his mind.

"So, now what are we going to do?"

Amber just looked at the window and stared at her reflection in the glass. "I really don't know Mike. I'm out of ideas, and today has just been too much." She closed her eyes, too tired to be as scared as she probably should have been. "Would it be a bad idea to tell you I think we're fucked?"

Mike chuckled nervously. "Well, that makes me just so excited for tonight. You're very inspirational Amber."

"Oh, shut up. If you want to be useful, try doing some more research. Put those years of hiding out on the internet to some good use." She punched his arm and glared at the sarcasm, not putting up with it after everything she'd had to deal with.

"Fine, fine. I'll see what I can dig up. You just better be ready for tonight. I can't keep hiding out on a fake pirate ship. I actually have a job to do you know." Mike reminded her, not liking the thought of returning to his little office with it's limited power.

"I'll think of something by tonight. We'll be fine. Promise."

–

AN: But, can you really keep that promise Amber? Hmmm, I wonder.

So, Poor Uncle Eddy is now incapacitated, and this causes a whole new set of problems for our protagonists, some of which won't be seen just yet.

As for Edward's last name, that was actually taken from the real world. You get a cookie and a shout out if you can figure out where it comes from. I'll reveal it in the next chapter.

As always, please review. Tell me your thoughts and theories, I love to hear where you guys think this train is heading. Did anyone guess I was going to do this, or did it catch you by surprise? Let me know what you think Night 4 will be like, from experience, that's when the game starts to get really hard your first time through.

-Red


	9. Fourth night

AN: Chapter 8. The fourth night.

Sorry this chapter is up late compared to my others. It needed a lot of work to get it right, and I really wanted this one to be good. This story wasn't ever supposed to be a horror or suspense story, but there is a very real tension in the games that I didn't want to ignore. Especially when it's so vital to the original material.

There's also some conflict with my main characters. Right now, Amber is struggling between her dominant logical side, and the part of her that naturally responds to the AI's as actual people. I don't want it to seem as if I'm just writing her irrationally, she keeps changing moods because right now, she doesn't know what to think or how to properly respond. I promise it's all intentional and will eventually sort itself out. Likewise, Mike is afraid of the situation he's in, but I don't want him to come off as a weak person. His reasoning for staying at this job isn't fully clear yet, since he doesn't have the same ties that Amber does. But I promise, it will be revealed as the story progresses. Everything has a reason!

Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

Night 4- 12 AM- Amber

–

"Well, if it isn't the pretty lass again. I must be lucky." The pirate fox activated right on schedule, reacting to the presence of a guest in his cove.

Amber continued tightening the screws on the hand she was working on, not letting herself be startled by the sudden voice. "Hello Foxy. Good to see you're functioning properly still." She had spent the afternoon digging through all the files she could access on her uncles computer. She'd found nothing on how to disable the animatronics, but she had manged to mess around with Foxy's speech protocols. Maybe now she could actually understand him when he spoke.

"What have you got there? A trinket for yer Captain maybe?" Foxy leaned over to look at her work.

"You could say that. I'm rigging up a right hand for you. Your hook is nice for a pirate, but it's not very safe. You'd like to have two functioning hands, wouldn't you?" she showed the metal joints she was screwing together.

"A hand? So ye are still tampering with me. And here I thought you'd come back just for me winning personality." He paused, suddenly noticing that he was speaking differently. "Have you been messing around in me brain?"

She nodded. "I need answers, and I'm not going to waste time translating everything from ye olde maritime speech." She set the hand down on the deck and turned to glance out at the dining hall. Bonnie was already looking over at them, but he hadn't moved yet.

"I need to know everything you do. I was planning on asking my uncle, but there was an accident today. He won't be able to answer questions anytime soon, and I'm out of time to figure this out." Arms crossed, she set her shoulders and calmly waited for the Fox to start talking.

"What exactly do ye need to know, and why would this uncle of yours know about it?" Foxy showed a reluctance to talk, something Amber found vexing. She'd come in to work with her mind made up that she could understand the limits of Foxy's AI, but here he was showing traits she though impossible.

"My uncle is the owner of this place. He'd know if anything happened in the past to make the others act the way they do." At her comment, both Chica and Bonnie started moving off the stage and heading towards the cove. Her eyebrow raised, and she gave a meaningful look to the suddenly still pirate. "Is there some sort of problem with my uncle being the owner?"

Foxy watched the others approach, eye patch flipped up to keep both eyes on them. "No problem lass. Just a surprise, is all. A shame that he be hurt." He shifted himself between her and the others. "Might be best not to ask about the past. There's been too many bad memories, and talkin' about them never leads to anything good."

"That's the same excuse my family always gives. I already know about the Bite. What's more I'm pretty sure I know what caused it. What I'm asking about is what happened to the other night guards, and how is it _they_," She gestured to the two robots now standing a few feet away, "are able to ignore the rules about hurting humans, but still obey the rules about the cove and the lights."

She turned to glare at them and stood up, flinging one of the wrenches in her toolbox at them. "Why don't either of you answer me? I know you can, you have the same AI systems as Foxy." Foxy reached out his paw to hold her back, keeping her from getting near the edge of the stage.

"Remember to f-follow the r-rules here at F-Freddy F-Fazbear's." Bonnie stuttered out. Another wrench went sailing towards his head.

"Stop saying those stupid canned messages. I know you can talk." The days events had strained Amber to her limits and now she was getting angry. A low bass voice chuckled and she snapped out of her glaring to check the main stage. For the first time ever, she actually saw as Freddy left his stationary position.

"Lass, It ain't a good idea to throw things 'bout like that. Freddy don't like it when the others get hurt." Foxy sounded nervous.

"Yeah, well I don't like it when I'm threatened just for existing." She growled, watching the brown bear head towards the east hall. Yanking her radio out of her belt clip she pressed down on the button. "Mike. The bear is heading your way from the right. Heads up."

–

Night 4- 2 AM- Mike

–

Mike flipped the door button, not wanting to deal with playing games. He'd worked out a system with Amber before leaving the apartment. Since the cameras used power, he'd wait to use them only after Amber had told him the robots had left the main room. It had saved him two hours worth of power already, and even now, he only had to worry about one of the killer animals.

Pulling up the monitors, he checked through the screens in the east hallway, looking for how far Freddy had gotten. He jumped seeing large black eyes staring right at him from through the screen. Amber could think it was just a virus, but the intelligence and malice the things showed made him believe otherwise.

The screen went black and he checked that the door was still closed. There was a hard banging and he flipped the light on, hoping to send the thing away. The banging continued and he edged away from the window nervously. His power was draining faster and faster with each thud, acting just as it had when Foxy had tried breaking in before.

"Amber, Freddy is sapping my power, and I don't know how long this door will hold out. Are you any closer to fixing this?" He looked around the room for a weapon or a place to hide as he saw the heavy door rattle from the impacts.

"Mike, get out of there. Bonnie and Chica are sitting right in front of me, so the west hallway is clear. You won't be able to get to the Cove, but your key opens the managers office. You'll be safe in there. Just hurry. You'll be fast enough if you run."

Mike nearly pissed himself at the idea, but the banging at his door made the decision for him. He grabbed his radio and backpack and sprinted through the left door, heading down the west hall and barreling across the dining hall, not looking back in case Bonnie or Chica decided to follow him. He fumbled with the keys for a moment before managing to unlock the door and seal himself inside.

"Mike, get on the computer for me. I want you to try and look up whatever you can about the history of this place and the animatronics. Foxy isn't being helpful, but I know the answers are there somewhere."

He flipped the light switch and moved to sit down at the desk, booting up the clunky old computer. "What exactly should I be searching? You have any specific time frame?"

"Start with Fredbear's Family Diner and work from there. Uncle Eddy got the animatronics from another owner in the mid '80s. I'm sure it'll be between then and '87." There was a loud metallic squealing from Amber's end. "Christ! Uh, yeah, definitely look that up as quick as you can. I'm going to hold things down here. Contact me when you've found something,"

Mike wanted to ask what had happened, but her tone had made it clear she didn't want him doing anything but research. He felt even more exposed now, this door having an easily broken window, and not nearly as sturdy as the metal doors his own office had. With any luck this room was a safe zone just like the cove and he'd be able to survive the night.

–

Night 4- 3 AM- Amber

–

Amber jumped up onto the pirate ship deck, putting railing between her and the screaming animatronics. The sound was short-lived, but it had been terrifying nonetheless. Even Foxy had seemed upset at what she'd asked Mike to do, though he hadn't retaliated towards her. Bonnie and Chica still hadn't come onstage, but a rasping wheeze was now constantly coming from them. Something that couldn't possibly be a normal recorded sound.

"What the hell is all this? Foxy, what are they doing?" She gripped the railing and stared anxiously down at the pirate.

"Lass, I told you not to be digging in the past. It leads to nothing good." Foxy climbed up to the main deck as well and leaned his weight against the pole that was supposed to replicate a main mast.

"I wouldn't have to ask Mike look it up if you'd just tell me." She argued. "I'm just trying to fix everything. I can't do that when the things I'm supposed to fix are actively trying to murder me."

The gasping noises stopped, and the emergency lights blacked out. Freddy must have drained the security offices generator. Pirate Cove would still have Amber's work lights so long as her small generator ran, but now it was the only pool of light in the entire dining hall. A blue glow could be seen from the bathroom hallway, proving that even in a shut down, the manager's office was still fine. Mike would be able to keep researching.

Amber heard a faint sound coming from down the hall. It sounded like a music box, but none of the animatronics were fitted with one of those. The tune sounded familiar, but Amber couldn't place it right away. It looped around to play again and she finally placed the tune as the song Toreador from Carmen. The recognition came just as Freddy turned the corner into the main room, coming into sight. His eyes were lit up in the darkness, flickering eerily.

"Lass, It be a good idea if ye start thinking of a way out of here. Freddy has the run of the place, and that tune of his means he's done playing around." Foxy pushed off from where he was leaning, alert towards the new threat. Had he been a real fox, his fur would be bristling.

"Freddy can come into Pirate Cove? Why didn't he do it earlier then?" Amber was suddenly moving, hopping off the deck floor and onto the stage below.

"Security guards take special priority with Freddy. It be a longstanding grudge, but now's not the time to be telling stories." Freddy was halfway through the room already, and Amber didn't know how to get around the two robots already blocking her exit off the stage without being grabbed. The room was poorly lit and tables stood in the way of her just bolting to the manager's office.

"I'm not fast enough to get past them like this Foxy." As if in agreement, Freddy let out another booming laugh. He kept coming closer, one foot raising up to reach the stairs in front of her. She cursed at the lack of light in the room, knowing she could probably get away if she could only see where she was going.

The thought sparked an idea, and she suddenly remembered going through Freddy's coding. Specifically him becoming faster and more active in the dark. Grabbing one of the work lights she flipped it around on its clamp to shine straight into Freddy's face. The trick worked, and he stopped moving, freezing in place ten feet from her.

"That won't hold him for long Lass. It be too late in the week to stop him from moving about." Foxy warned.

"I don't have any other ideas Foxy. You may be able to run and frolic around in the dark, but I can't." She gripped her radio, needing to warn Mike about what was happening. With any luck he'd have an idea.

"Mike, I'm pinned in at Pirate Cove. Freddy's made it on stage, and I'm not sure how long I can-" She got cut off by the feeling of a fur covered metal arm wrapping around the back of her legs and suddenly the world tilted dangerously, a grunt escaping her as her stomach was slammed into something hard. She screamed as the floor shrank away, a flash of yellow and purple sweeping under her before another impact cut the sound off, her ribs feeling bruised from the jarring force. There was a blur of red and blue tiles before she heard pounding coming from somewhere behind her.

–

Night 4- 4 AM- Mike

–

Mike was already standing up halfway through Amber's message, not knowing how he was going to stop the animatronics from hurting his friend, but knowing he was going to try. The radio cut out and a second later he heard Amber scream, the sound terminating suddenly. Already rushing around the desk, he nearly fell over when the door suddenly shuddered under the force of a heavy pounding fist.

"Open the door Laddie, there's no time to waste!" Mike unlocked the door and opened it wide, scampering out of the way as Foxy burst through. He looked past him and slammed the door closed with a scream, seeing Chica turning to follow down the hall faster than he'd ever seen her move before. He locked the door and backed away from it, tempted to hide under the desk until the yellow bird went away.

Amber coughed as she was let down to stand on her feet again, trying to process what had just happened. Foxy had picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, jumping over Bonnie and Chica and hightailing it to the managers office. The impact from having his metal shoulder slam into her during the landing had hurt a lot, but she wasn't about to yell at the pirate for doing it when the alternative was death by being shoved into an animatronic suit.

"Holy shit. Warn a girl before you try something like that Foxy. I thought I was gonna die" She wheezed out, trying to get back the breath that had been knocked out of her.

The pirate stepped back almost sheepishly. "Sorry Lass, but it was the only way out I could see. I'd have held ye more delicately, but there was no time to waste, and I couldn't risk catching ye with me hook."

Amber rubbed her stomach tenderly. "See? That's why two hands is better than one. No more complaining about the upgrades I'm making."

Mike sat back down at the computer desk, relieved that his friend was alright, and more secure now that he knew for sure Foxy was on their side. He'd been slogging through the company's history, and so far all he'd found was bad news. It was a wonder the place had continued to run for as long as it had. He'd found plenty of horrible events tied to the place, but besides The Bite of '87, nothing had been the animatronics fault. There was nothing to suggest any sort of computer virus or bad programming. Up until The Bite, all the attractions seemed to be the best of their kind and bug free.

Amber caught her breath and slumped down against the filing cabinets. "Find anything yet Mike?" She asked hopefully.

"Not anything you'd find useful. I don't think the programming is the problem." He admitted, nervous to how she'd react in the face of something she couldn't explain.

"It has to be. What else could possibly explain it?" She folded her arms across her stomach in discomfort. "They're machines. Not people in costumes. We're not dealing with living beings, no matter how alive they might seem."

Mike figured she'd react that way. He pointed towards the computer. "There's a lot of bad stuff written here, but none of it involves a programmer being carried off in chains. There's a lot about missing children and suspected murders though." Foxy gave a tiny yip at that, scooting away from Mike as the security guard turned to face him. "Lots of things pointing towards the idea that those kids bodies were stuffed into suits. Kind of like what we've been avoiding this whole time, which I don't think is a coincidence."

Amber looked over at Foxy as well, not really willing to entertain the thought of this being something supernatural. "Is this what you meant by not talking about the past?" Foxy nodded slowly.

"Yarr. It be a sad tale, and the others didn't ever play after that. Well, besides tryin' ta 'play' with the guards. I've tried to stop them before, but there's no getting through to them." He lowered his head and didn't look up at them.

"Five kids went missing, but there's only four animatronics." Mike thought out loud, not wanting to be too close to the fox after hearing the stories were true.

"Now that's where yer wrong. There used to be a lot more of us. Nine in total. The others were scrapped after The Bite. I wasn't even in use at the time, they'd started to dismantle me and the others to replace us." He had looked up to correct the night guard, but looked back down as soon as he'd made eye contact. "So ye don't have to be so edgy round me. I'm not tainted."

Amber looked horrified at the idea. "There's no way there are dead bodies inside of those things. It'd be discovered almost immediately. My uncle would have known about that, and he'd never just cover it up."

"It was years ago lass. And the bodies were never found because they weren't in there long." Foxy shook his head and didn't elaborate on what had happened to the bodies. "Rest easy, yer uncle never knew about it. He ain't no murderer."

Mike clicked through the pages of news articles he'd found, reading through them again. "They mention a suspect in custody, but there's never any follow up. No trial or sentencing. Who the hell would do something like this?"

"The head guard. He weren't caught, and after the place shut down, he moved to working at night. Over time he ended up being the only one still here, and it's just driven the others madder and madder. He's gone now, so I thought it would be over, but it's been so long, I guess they just don't remember why they're so angry." Foxy slid down the wall and curled his exposed metal legs closer to himself.

"So they're haunted? Seriously haunted? What are we supposed to do about that?" Amber said hitting her head back against the cabinet. "Guess that's why their AI isn't working right. They're fucking possessed. What you said about Freddy gunning after guards makes a lot more sense now too." She sighed and got up, going over to Foxy. "I'm sorry you had to tell us all of that. But it's really helpful for us to know, and maybe we can do something about it so you can have your friends back." She knelt down and wrapped her arms around his matted shoulders. "We're not angry with you, so please don't hide. I feel a lot safer when I know you're looking out for me. Mike does too, right Mike?" she glared over the pirates head to make sure he agreed.

Mike picked on her signal quickly. "Right. You helped me yesterday, and you kept Amber safe tonight. We'd be in a ton of trouble without your help." He really did feel better knowing Foxy could at least fight off the others if he had to.

Amber patted the furry back before getting up and moving to the computer. "Budge up, I'm going to check the codes again. If I still can't find anything, I guess I'll just have to admit it's ghosts and find an exorcist or something."

Mike moved over and waited for her to do her work, feeling sure she wasn't going to find anything. It was a long while before she finally closed out of the files, dropping her head into her hands. "So, is it ghosts?" He asked, already knowing the answer from her frustrated appearance.

"Maybe. That's as much as you're going to get from me, I still think it's ridiculous, but it's all we've got." Amber sat up straight and cracked her back, pausing as she noticed Foxy moving towards the door. "Uh, Foxy? Are you okay? It's dangerous out there."

"Time to go back to places. It's already almost six." He explained trying to open the door. Mike checked his watch and laughed victoriously at the numbers there.

"Made it another night!" He grabbed his bag and checked through the glass panel for danger before opening the door. Foxy left quickly, getting back to Pirates Cove before the clock could turn over to six. Amber sat still in the desk chair until the actual bell chimed out, shutting down the computer and getting up to leave. She didn't feel nearly as victorious as Mike did, still sporting dark bruises across her midsection from her painful rescue.

The lights showed that while they'd been locked in the managers office, the other animatronics hadn't stayed idle. Amber's generator was dead, the work lights shattered and crumpled in the corner of the cove's stage. She climbed up and grabbed the hand she'd been working on before to take with her. With nothing else to show as progress, and another engineering class starting in a few hours, she'd have to show what she had managed to get done and make something up to cover the rest.

"You okay?" Mike asked, picking up on her lack of reaction.

"Not really. There's just a lot to take in." She kicked a shard of glass out of her way, not bothering to try to clean it up. "Let's just go home. There's really nothing I can do about ghosts, and I've got too much to do today to keep thinking about this." She trudged her way out of the room, not even looking at the main stage. Mike followed, glancing behind him before leaving the building, convincing himself that he didn't see the bears head twitch

–

AN: SOOOO. Yeah. It's ghosts. I was torn about bringing the supernatural in to this, but what really made the decision for me was Scott Cawthon's comments that the animatronics ARE haunted. It's cannon information, so I accepted it. I can't say too much without giving things away, but the five nights are almost over, and once that happens, this story changes focus. It's not close to being done, there still a ton of chapters to go, but this first arc will be wrapping up.

Reviews! I had some questions I need to answer! And some comments to address!

DontkillMe32- I've never actually read I, Robot or seen the movie all the way through, but I'm well aware of the Three Laws, and I do like Asimov's other works.

Wonderlander- Thanks for mentioning the Game Theory episode! I see all of their videos when they first post, and as of writing this chapter, they've just posted a follow-up video for FNaF2 that actually supports a lot of what I've written here! I don't support everything MatPat has theorized for 2, but I encourage everyone to go check out the video as it is awesome!

Meta- My favorite repeat reviewer! I think this chapter answers your question about Freddy going wherever the hell he wants. Except the manager's office. Don't go in the manager's room is a Rule with a capital R. which makes you wonder about Foxy busting in there. hmmm... Mwahahaha! More questions for your brain to puzzle over.

Ryansburnsps3- Nope, the name isn't from Ed, Edd, and Eddy. The name I was referring to was his last name of Bushnell, which is the last name of the man who in real life founded Chuck E. Cheese!

Rex the mutt- No, Mike doesn't have a romantic interest in this story. Giving him one would involve making another character and complicating the plot needlessly. Mike is just as much a main character as Amber, which is why I focus on both of them during the chapters. I can't explain much without giving things away, but he has his own plot in this story, and romance just isn't a part of it.

All of the follows and reviews really have made writing this a joy. I was blown away to see how many people have followed this story and even added me to their favorite authors list. I'm always my own worst critic, so every time I post a chapter, I always think 'ugh, my writing is terrible' and I'm just waiting for hordes of angry flame reviews to pour in and torch my work. I love each and every one of you who have taken the time to read my story and leave such kind words of encouragement. This story has so much more on the way, and I hope you stick with me until the very end!

-Red


	10. Paranormal investigation

AN: Well. I broke over 1,000 views in a single day after posting chapter 9. You all ROCK.

Steampunk Timelord PM'ed me and asked about my profile pic. I cleared it up, but decided to write it down here in case anyone else was wondering about it. No, my profile pic isn't of Amber and Foxy. It's me and a baby fox that I gave an eye patch in MS Paint because I'm a dork. If you want to make fanart of Mike or Amber, go right ahead, but I don't draw any detailed pictures of the two because I want them to be left to your own mental image.

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Nights at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

Mike was more inclined to accept the fact that the deadly animal suits were possessed than Amber was. As a woman of science, she'd always been skeptical of anything related to the supernatural, and now having nothing else to believe in, she was understandably shaken. He stayed up while she got ready for her classes, watching how blank she remained, her movements listless as she sat on the couch and worked on finishing up the hand she'd been drafting for days.

"Hey, why don't you just take the day off and get some sleep? You know, try and come to terms with all the stuff we've just had dumped on us?" He wasn't prepared for the glare she sent towards him.

"I can't miss any more classes Mike. Even with all the shit we're going through, I have to focus on getting through this course. I don't have the luxury of just sitting back and taking a breather. The real world doesn't care what's going on in your personal life, it just keeps tossing more problems your way." She turned away and bent over the hand, winding tension cables through it and testing how well they flexed the joints into a grip.

The only time she'd ever been this short tempered and snappy was when she was facing down finals. Comparing their situation now to something as mundane as an exam seemed to be an unfair equivalence though. He supposed he understood, she'd had an awful month, and this week alone she'd begun thinking she'd found solutions to all her problems, only for even worse issues to come up. Now her relative was in the hospital and she was facing down the possibility of the supernatural, something she wasn't equipped to handle.

Mike didn't have any other idea on how to help besides treating her the way he always did when she was overworked and brain-fried. He made hot cocoa, having to make do with the powdered stuff since they still had limited funds. Carrying it over slowly, he set it down beside where she was working, a small peace offering to hopefully get the tired woman to relax some.

"Amber, try not to push yourself too hard today. I'll look up whatever I can on spirits, or exorcism, or whatever. You focus on just doing the job you've been doing. It's my turn to try and do something useful." He gave the brightest smile he could manage, not sure if he really could do anything against ghosts, but he was at least more willing to believe whatever advice he found. Amber would only question everything she found and just be too overwhelmed to figure out a solution.

"You have been useful. You figured out what was wrong when I was too stubborn to even accept it as a possibility. Don't sell yourself short Mike." Amber set the skeletal hand aside, picking up the mug of chocolate and sipping carefully to avoid burning her mouth. "Thanks. I'm sorry I snapped. I don't mean to always be arguing with you, it's just been hard. I know it's wrong of me to take it out on you."

"Amber, I'm sure that as bad as this weeks been, you have every right to be irritable." He disappeared to the bathroom for a minute, coming back with their first aid kit. "Lift up your shirt, your ribs probably need to be wrapped before you start running around for class."

Amber flushed pink at the curt demand. Her ribs gave a throb of pain, reminding her that they still hurt quite a bit, no matter how much she tried to ignore it. "I can handle it myself Mike. I just need some painkillers."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Oh please don't say you're embarrassed. I'm not asking you to show me your tits. Just lift your shirt enough so I can see how bad it is." He made a face at her reluctance. "You're like my sister Amber, you know damn well that I'm not interested in you like that. Just like I know you're not interested in people."

Amber lifted up the edge of her t-shirt, showing off the large swath of bruised skin covering from her lower ribs to above her belly button. "What do you mean? You make me sound like an alien or something. I am too interested in people."

Mike winced at the ugly mark, pushing gently to see if her ribs had actually cracked. It didn't seem like it, but it was still painful and he handed his roommate some ibuprofin before moving to wrap the ribs just in case. "Amber, I've known you for years, all throughout high school, and never have you once dated anyone, male, female or otherwise. I'm starting to think you're a Vulcan."

"A what now?" She asked confused, grunting in pain from the tugging of being wrapped up.

"You're a science nerd and you've not seen Star Trek? It's a species who- oh never mind." He taped the end of the bandage in place and closed the case up tight.

"You _are_ calling me an alien! You dick." She complained, grabbing up the hand again to tweak her work while she still had time. Checking the clock, she sighed, carefully placing what she'd finally finished into her messenger bag. "I'm going to class now. Good luck figuring out our spectral problem."

Mike nodded, not wanting to cause another argument from accidentally insulting his friend. Once she was gone he hopped on his computer, a pot of coffee brewing so he'd be able to handle the coming hours of paranormal research.

–

Mike was half sure the people writing all of these articles were high. There were so many conflicting schools of thought. Most sites he'd found urged that ghosts were just misunderstood spirits needing help in crossing over, and others warned that they were negative emotions from living people, just manifesting because of some psychic powers humans couldn't control.

_Spirits can't hurt you, so just remember to be firm when telling them to depart, as they can feed off of your fear and negative emotions._

Maybe that was true for normal ghosts, but these things could definitely hurt a person. He clicked out of the page and tried again, typing in possessions. With any luck it would be more informative.

There was a long history of different types of possessions in plenty of religions and cultures, and Mike felt a bit better knowing there was likely a solution if there was a history associated with the topic.

His hopes sunk some as all of the information pertained to humans being possessed, the solution often involving methods that would break the animatronics, like submerging the victim in water, or just wouldn't work as they involved using the will of the possessed person to help fight off the invading spirit.

Maybe he had to focus on exorcising the whole building, or learn more about the victims? He yawned wide, wishing he had more time to work on a solution. He'd have to sleep before going back to work or he was sure he'd be a goner. The robots hadn't bothered them in the office this night, but who knows what would happen as they got more determined.

Changing focus, he looked up videos of famous ghost hunters, seeing if maybe he could learn something from them. Carrying his computer to the living room, he hooked the device up to the TV and hit play on the series he found, sitting back to see what was involved in this investigation process.

–

Amber trudged through the front door, tired and ready to sleep. Her professor had been impressed with her work, despite having no pictures of progress, and she counted the class as a success after how bad the night before had been. She stopped when she saw Mike passed out on the couch, the TV playing what at first glance looked like some sort of horror movie. She figured out that it was just a night vision camera and sat down to see what exactly this was all about. The group certainly seemed to be trying to use a scientific approach, but then the, what, show host? Leader? Guy in leather jacket, started talking to the air and getting excited over a coincidental lens flare. She groaned in disappointment, leaning forward to check what was actually playing.

_Ghost Adventures_? Leave it to Mike to pick a show from the travel channel and figure it was a good example of an investigative team.

She shook her roommate awake, amused as he jumped and fell off of the couch. "I thought you were doing work, Mike. Here I find you watching TV and drooling all over the furniture."

"Oh man. I'm sorry. I promise it's not just some random show. I'm trying to figure out how to stop a possession on something that isn't actually alive." He pulled himself up and wiped at his chin, relieved that he hadn't actually been drooling everywhere.

"And you thought this show was a good way to figure that out? I just saw one of the guys have a panic attack over a cold spot. I doubt this is going to help us out. Imagine how quickly they'd shit themselves if confronted with Freddy?" She chuckled, realizing they were a hell of a lot braver than these supposedly professional paranormal investigators. She flinched almost immediately after from her ribs letting out a warning twinge.

"Well I did get some ideas. I'm going to look up the names of those kids and see if I can't get them to pass on. Maybe they just need to realize that they guy who hurt them isn't around anymore." He doubted it would work, but he didn't have years of experience to draw from, all he had was Google and Wikipedia.

"Good luck on that. I'm going to sleep and I'll be up around eight to help you out. How long have you been napping?"

Mike checked the clock and groaned. "About two hours. I'll sleep some more and look it up once I'm less brain dead. Leave the TV on, I'll just sleep out here and hopefully learn something useful while I'm unconscious."

Amber let it go, heading off to bed, not minding the drone of the TV as it turned over to a new episode. The sound at least made her feel less alone and paranoid.

–

Christopher, Adam, Robert, Jennifer, and Heather. Five names that were associated with the missing children, no last names given. It was as good as Mike was going to get. Seeing the names made him feel incredibly sad all of a sudden. It was true he was terrified of the animatronics, and he had been since even before he'd known they could actually hurt him. Now he had names to go along with the poor children behind all of the terrible events and he finally connected that the killers he was so angry at were just kids themselves when they'd died.

"Just fucking kids, with twenty-seven years of trying to get the guy who killed them. No wonder they're confused. That long and they might not even realize that he's already gone." Mike rubbed at his temples, refilling his coffee mug for the third time since he'd woken back up. Amber had gotten up right when she said she would and was taking a shower, unable to hear his musings. He questioned his sanity, wondering if he'd even survive the night when he had no real plan besides trying to talk to dead kids and convince them to leave.

He also had a canister of salt, having read that it helped, but he had no idea what he was supposed to do with it. Maybe ghosts couldn't cross it, but the animatronics hadn't shown any weaknesses yet, and he doubted a bit of table salt was going to be doing any miracles.

They'd decided to go to the pizzeria as soon as the normal hours closed at nine, so that Amber could try and clean out the three animatronics, hoping she wouldn't find any body parts in the process. Most exorcisms had ritual baths at the start, but they would have to make do as submerging the heavy metal creatures would only cause a lot of sparks and several thousand dollars worth of damages.

Amber finally finished with her shower, coming out of her room with a grim look on her face. "Are you ready?"

"No, but I'm probably as close to ready as I can get. When did our lives get so screwed up?" Mike tried to pass the comment off as a joke, but it sounded too serious for anyone to be convincing.

"Our lives have always been screwed up, it's just the details that have changed." Amber grabbed her keys and tucked her fully charged radio into her waist band, tossing Mikes to him once it was secure.

"Come on Mike time to get going. Last night of the week."

–

AN: I want to start by saying I actually really like the show Ghost Adventures. There is no real offense meant towards the show, and I think you should totally watch it, because it's really funny. So funny in fact that the horror movie Grave Encounters totally rips off of it. (watch that movie after seeing a season of Ghost Adventures and I promise you'll enjoy it a lot more.) Fun Fact: I wrote this whole chapter in three and a half hours all while listening to a ten hour trackloop of TheLivingTombstone's FNaF2 song. Yeah, I seriously just listened to one song over and over to focus. Chapter one was written while listening to a ten hour loop of the first games song. Go check them out if you haven't heard them yet, they're great.

There is only one part of Amber that actually does come from my own life. She's asexual. Hence why a romance with Foxy is entirely valid for her, and why Mike won't be paired with any of the animatronics. I've already explained before that there will be no smut in this story, and I lucked out that it lets me keep this as a T rating strictly for the language and horror situations. (I've written smut before, but these are robots... with muzzles and beaks. Sort of out of my scope.)

Mike and Amber hopefully are coming across as the character foils they are supposed to be. Mike is emotional and a bit of a lazy slob compared to Amber's logical and driven personality. It's what makes them work as friends, but it's also why they argue so much. She gets him to actually work, and he gets her to loosen up. It's all for a reason!

I'm so happy you're all enjoying this story! I do hope the lack of a physical relationship doesn't disappoint you all too much, but I find the progression of an emotional connection to be more meaningful, and this whole story is about emotional bonds. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, and what you think night 5 is going to look like!

-Red


	11. Fifth night

AN: Wow, we're already at chapter 11. We've made it to night 5! to recap: the place is haunted, Amber is officially done with the shit going on around her, and Mike's decided to become the ghost whisperer after a days worth of Google and watching TV. (Great idea Mike, I'm sure you won't end up murdered.) It's looking to be a recipe for disaster. So enjoy!

This chapter was written while listening to Super Metroid soundtrack, mostly the Brinstar and Norfair themes. It makes for good ambiance when dealing with FnaF. Kinda creepy and isolated but very relaxing. If you've never heard them before, go check it out on Youtube. Good stuff.

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Nights at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

Night 5- Pre-shift – 9:45 PM

–

Amber was getting really pissed off at the evening shift workers attitudes towards their jobs. Sure, cleaning up after a days worth of messy children wasn't a very glamorous job, but it was honest work, and it's not like they were risking their lives for a paycheck. She tried to drown out the stupid comments, focusing on digging out the grime from Bonnie's endoskeleton. In less than three hours the metal construct would be trying to murder her, but here she was knelt before it and scraping out what had to be years of dust and oil build up. There was something bitterly ironic about it, willingly making her potential killers function better.

She'd been told that it cost three hundred dollars a month to maintain these animatronics, but with what she was seeing, her uncle had been getting ripped off even before the price increase. There was hardly any upkeep done on the suits in years, and their circuits were tangled together in a confusing jumble of hasty patch jobs. Even with all of his rust and torn fur, Foxy was actually in better shape, his central computer still unharmed from the hack jobs the repairmen had been doing.

Amber tugged Bonnie's fur back onto his frame, moving on to Chica, struggling with getting her oddly shaped suit off of her body. The annoying twits had stopped mopping to watch Amber work, and she was tempted to turn around and yell at them. She didn't own the pizzeria, but her uncle did, and having people slacking off while he was in the hospital just made her want to lash out at their disrespect.

Mike was back in his office, going through the filing cabinet he'd never gotten a chance to look through. It had all of the employee files, as well as a backlog of security feeds. With any luck, he could figure out about the past night guards, maybe even track them down in the morning.

Finishing up Chica's body, she realized it had gotten quiet, most of the employee's having finally left to go home. The clock read 11:15, and she hurriedly moved on to cleaning out Freddy's suit and frame, scrubbing the metal down with a wire brush, digging out plenty of dirt and sticky gunk. She tried not to think about dead bodies, knowing it wasn't anything human, but still creeped out by the thought that these crossbeams had killed someone.

"You're really a hard worker aren't you Amber? I'm surprised anyone would willingly work on those things, especially since this place will probably be closing by the end of the year." Amber set aside her scrub brush, turning to see the evening manager, Jeff watching her work.

"Well, this place is a big part of my family. I'd like to think that with a bit of hard work we can get it back to being a profitable business. We're only finished when we give up, right?" She tugged the brown fur suit back into place, not wanting to get caught up in idle chit-chat when she still had a few things to do before midnight hit.

"That's really admirable. Say, uh, I was just wondering. You and the night guard, uh, are you an item? You're always showing up together." He shuffled his feet nervously. Amber didn't notice, her back turned while she fought with retying Freddy's bow tie.

"Mike? Oh, we live together. But no, we're not a couple. He's just my roommate. We carpool to save rent money." She grinned as the tie settled back into place finally.

"Oh, really? That must be nice. So, um if you're free sometime, do you think you'd like to get a coffee, maybe after your shift ends?"

Amber scrunched her nose at the question. "Why would I want to go out for coffee right before going to bed? Especially with how much they charge for a cup. I could just make it at home for cheaper and not have to wait in a line during morning rush hour."

"Oh. Right, I guess that does seem pretty silly. Well, I have to get going, don't want to be out any later than I have to. You, uh, have a good shift." Amber waved at the manager, confused about why he'd been acting so odd. Shrugging it off, she made sure he'd left before retrieving the heavy rope she'd found in the back, lashing it around the three animatronics and tying them together as best as she could. She wanted to keep them in place and let Mike have time to do whatever it was he'd cooked up during the day. If she could find chain, she would have used that instead, but she'd be content with the rope. She was tired of having to hide, but she knew there was no way Mike or she could fight back. Restraining them would have to do.

Speaking of restraints, she checked the clock and figured there would be enough time for her to attempt something risky. Removing the large heads from the three bound animatronics, she looked over the mishmash of wiring, gently unplugging the wires leading to the leg motor functions. Their processors were full of redundancies and backups, so it was possible they'd still be able to move, but if she'd done her work right, then they weren't walking anywhere tonight.

–

Night 5- 12 AM- Shift start

–

The lights went out, marking the change to midnight. Amber backed away from the main stage, not trusting to turn her back on the animatronics when they became active. She jumped at feeling her shoulder bump into something, panicking before she realized that it was just Foxy coming out of the cove.

"Easy lass, Foxy ain't here to hurt you." He steadied her with his hand, moving his hook out of the way so she didn't catch herself on it.

"Sorry. I'm just jumpy." She apologized. She didn't look back at the fox, keeping her eyes on the stage for the first signs of movement.

A flashlight came bobbing down the hall, Mike making his way to the dining hall with his trusty backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Any signs of them walking yet?" He asked, looking at the rope restraints curiously, a bit afraid they'd suddenly wake up and murder them.

Amber shook her head, noticing Bonnie and Chica's arms were starting to jerk against the ropes. Freddy had turned to face them, but only at the waist. It made her relieved to think that her temporary rewiring had worked. "I unplugged the cables leading to their legs. They should be stuck in one place, but I didn't have enough time to really look at what's been done to them. The repairmen who worked on them seemed to just add more cables when there was a problem instead of really fixing the issues."

The ropes loosened with the force of the struggle the animatronics were putting up. "Mike you probably want to start working on whatever it is you cooked up, I don't know how long they're going to stay this docile." Amber shifted herself behind Foxy, trusting the stronger animatronic to be better equipped to fight off the others if they began moving.

"Right." Mike unzipped the backpack, pulling out the canister of salt and pouring a thick line across the edge of the stage.

"What is that supposed to do?" Amber asked, staring at the salt line dubiously.

"It's supposed to be a barrier for spirits. They can't cross it." He explained, not really knowing if the supposed rule applied to the animatronics, but putting up whatever measures he could. "I know it sounds stupid, I'm just winging it here, okay? I'm not exactly an expert."

It looked like the spirits had finally figured out that their legs weren't responding and their voice boxes took up a chorus of mechanical screaming, heads glitching from the attempts to move.

Foxy growled, his teeth baring and ears flattening backwards like a cat's from the offending sound. "Ye best try fixing it before we all go deaf laddie, it be too early to manage through the night like this."

Mike took his hands away from his ears and grabbed a notebook from his bag, flipping to the page where he'd gathered all the information he could find about the kids. There were five in total, but only three of the animatronics had survived into this building. Whether that meant he was only dealing with three ghosts or not though, he didn't know.

"Jennifer?" He started out, seeing if the name gave a response to any of them. They continued to scream and jerk, even louder now if possible. "Uh, Christopher? Chris?" The shrieks didn't let up at all.

"What is this role call? If so, I'd say they aren't here." Amber yelled over the din.

"I'm trying, okay? Uh, Heather!" Chica stopped screaming, her arms falling down at her sides and head tilted at an extreme angle sideways to stare down at them from the stage.

"Holy shit it worked. Okay, next step, sympathize with the trapped spirit and attempt to communicate." Mike mumbled to himself reading off his notes. "Okay. Um, Heather? Right? I'm Mike. Mike Schmidt. I promise, I'm just a normal guy. Uh, I know what happened to you, and I'm so sorry, but the person who did it to you isn't around anymore, he can't ever hurt you again, so there's no need to hurt people." He knew he sounded stupid, but at least one of the robots had stopped screaming and appeared to be listening. "Robert, or is it Robbie? And, uh, Adam?" The other two stopped screaming, staring at Mike with deep black eyes.

Amber's own eyes widened at that. The animatronics were fitted with normal looking eye servos, not these black pits. She realized she'd seen them go black before, but she'd been so scared at the time that it had never actually connected in her brain that there was something wrong about it until now.

Mike was unnerved, but remembered what he'd seen about not showing fear. Instead he straightened his spine and talked a bit louder. "Now, I'm the night guard here these days, and while I know you might have a problem with guards, I can assure you, I'm nothing like the others." The heads started to twitch again, and Amber moved forward, seeing he was losing control of the situation. Figuring that these were children, she started to treat them that way.

"Alright, listen up, this tantrum of yours has gone on long enough! You've caused a lot of problems, and while we're very sorry for what happened to you, it doesn't give you the right to carry on the way you have been." Mike groaned at the lecture that was suddenly forming into full swing.

"_GUARDS. EVIL. YOU HURT US._" Freddy, (or was it Adam? Mike was having a hard time keeping it straight.) groaned out.

"Oh, so you're finally deciding to talk?" Amber crossed her arms around her bruised torso. She stuck to short clipped sentences, wanting to make her point clearly. "Then you can listen up. We've done nothing to you. We weren't even alive in 1987. It's already the new millennium. We have hoverboards now and everything! We're done with dealing with you. It's high time you crossed over."

Mike shook his head at how forceful she was suddenly being, recognizing that she was past being afraid and moving straight on into anger. He tried to placate her before she ruined their chances at peacefully getting the ghosts out. "I don't think they can just cross over Amber, otherwise they would have."

Amber stalked right to the edge of the stage, glaring down the Freddy animatronic. "I bet they can if the alternative is worse." She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. "See how you can't walk around? I did that, and I can disable everything else too. All it takes is a few wires being unplugged before midnight, and then attaching them back at six. The only freedom you'll have left is singing those stupid songs until this place makes enough money to replace you. Then you'll be tossed in a landfill, and If you think being shoved in a suit is bad, it's got nothing on a trash compactor."

"Oh, Christ. Amber, that's really not going to endear them to you." Mike muttered, feeling that this was spiraling out of control rapidly.

Chica's arms flapped uselessly. "_I __d__on't want to be hurt anymore."_

She wailed. Amber shrugged at the pitiful statement.

"That makes two of us, but I'm not going to deal with this anymore. You're subverting the programing in that suit you're possessing. I'm sure you've been using some sort of loophole to get around hurting people, tricking the wiring into thinking we're endoskeletons so you can kill without triggering the fail safes." She ignored Mikes attempts to pull her back from the stage, tossing his hand aside when it touched her shoulder and continuing her tirade. "See, I know you were kids when you died, but unlike Mike here, I don't care. It doesn't excuse your actions now. I want you out of here, and I'm going to make sure I get what I want, come hell or high water."

"Spirits are bound by their unfinished business Amber." Mike started, gesturing to his little notebook.

"Yes, and their business is over. Foxy told us last night don't you remember?" She pointed to Foxy and crooked her finger to beckon him over. The pirate fox looked nervous now that all attention was on him, walking over sheepishly. "Foxy, the person who hurt these kids. He's dead now, isn't he?" She asked.

He hesitated before nodding. "Aye, lass. He ain't gonna be hurting any tykes anymore." He glanced up at the Fazbear band. "They spent so long trying to get to him, that when they finally caught him, he weren't recognizable no more."

"_LI__AR__!"_

Amber didn't even bother entertaining them now. "I don't care if it's a lie or not! You've killed people, and done who knows what with the bodies, I'm already terrified to figure out what we're going to do if they're found on the property. Either you accept what Foxy's saying as the truth and pass on, or I start taking your motor functions offline at night. And I promise, your servos will be quite intact so you can experience every moment of being stuck. No matter what you choose, you are not getting free run of this pizzeria anymore." She turned to Foxy and nodded towards the hallways. "Since they broke my work lights, I'm going to have to work on you in Mike's office, as long as he doesn't mind?" She glanced at her mortified roommate, who only nodded in agreement, too shocked at her outburst to really respond. "Good. Mike, you can try to talk some sense into them if you want, but my ultimatum stands."

Mike watched the two head down the hall to his office before looking back at the three crippled animatronics. "Uh, She's really not a bad person, I promise."

The three stared blankly at him, slumped slightly in place. "_Will she really shut us down_?" Bonnie finally spoke up, staring after where Amber and Foxy had disappeared.

"Yes. After what you three have been doing, it's either us or you." He admitted honestly. "This isn't where you're supposed to be. I think you know that. Amber's here to try and save this place. It's going to be closed soon if she can't and you should know that if that happens, you'll be scrapped anyway. It's just not a good situation." He flipped through his notebook, trying to figure out how to help the kids pass over. He wasn't a very religious person, and didn't even know if he could do anything useful for them. "Uh, I'm going to try some stuff," he said pulling out the half melted candles he'd scavenged from their apartment. "and maybe it'll help you feel more at peace?"

–

Night 5- 4 AM- Amber

–

The office was quiet as Amber sat down on Mikes office chair, hands shaking from the built up adrenaline. Foxy stood in the corner watching her, keeping quiet until she finally pulled herself together. "Sorry, Foxy. I guess I went a little crazy back there. We can get to work on installing your new hand. I just need some pictures before we start."

He stayed in the corner rubbing the joint connected to his hook. "Lass, about what you said. You ain't going to be doing that to ol' Foxy are you?"

Amber furrowed her brow confused before realizing what Foxy was asking. "What? Oh! No, Foxy. I'm only doing this because they hurt people. I'd never threaten something like that unless it was absolutely necessary." She stood up and slowly approached him, reaching out to touch his arm. He didn't loosen up and she realized he actually was afraid of her, an emotion that normal AI's wouldn't have. "Foxy, I'm trying to fix you, not dismantle you."

"Aye, but the fact is that ye could dismantle me if ye wanted too. I ain't got any chance of stoppin' ye." Amber pulled back, feeling strangely hurt that he was acting so distrustful. She knew she'd been right to incapacitate Freddy and the others, but she regretted that she'd frightened the pirate and broken the tenuous partnership they'd formed.

It was stupid. Logically, Foxy was just a robot, and she could reprogram him if she needed to, but she felt like doing so would be wrong somehow. Here was a robot showing complex emotions and free will. Reprogramming him could undo this new unexpected technological advancement. She sat down and picked up the new hand, looking down at it.

"You're right. All I can do is promise that I won't do anything without telling you first. Even if I have to work on you while you're deactivated, I promise I'll let you know what I'm doing before you power down. You protected me before and I owe you at least that much." There was nothing she could do to prove herself, and the fact that Foxy was meant to be her project counted against her. If he refused to let her work on him, she'd either have to fail her class or break her word and wipe his memory files.

"Lass, I'm a pirate, it just don't ain't right for me to be so weak. I don't like thinkin that someone can get the drop on me so easy." He creaked as he walked over to her seat, making her note she'd have to be sure to check the joints again for any lingering rust. "It ain't like I can really fight ye off, but you've only been good ta me so far, fixin' me legs and making these new parts ta patch me up." He patted her head, and crouched down to sit on the floor, raising up his hook arm. "Do as ye like lass. Foxy'll trust ye to do what's best."

She rubbed her head, the pats being a little heavy handed and uncomfortable. Still, it seemed their small moment had passed safely, and they were still on good terms. "Your pirate talk is acting up again Foxy." She joked, trying to break the tension that had been building all night. "If we're going to be working together, you should call me by my name. It's Amber you know, not lass."

"Aye, I know your name," He nodded gesturing with his hook, "and it be a fine pretty name. But it just don't seem ta roll off the tongue. 'Tis a bit stiff ta be saying. I'll have ta think of a new name ta christen you with."

"Foxy, I'm a person, not a new ship. You don't have to rename me." She protested, starting her work on removing the hook so it could be replaced. He seemed to be ignoring her, mumbling words to himself in some strange attempt to rename her. There wasn't any normal human names in the mix, and she had the suspicion that he was going to call her by some stupid pets name like fluffy or duchess. By the time she'd connected the new hand to it's wrist joint, he'd still not come up with anything satisfactory.

"Not ta worry Lass, I'll think of something in time." He promised, twitching his tail as she started tugging long wires through the finger joints to connect up his arm and towards his chest.

"Please don't bother thinking of a new name, Amber is fine." She protested before starting to take some 'after' pictures and clean up. "I have to wait until you're offline to install the wires in your main processor, but once you reactivate, you'll be able to use two hands. You're fur is due to come in this weekend, so once we sew you up a new suit, you'll be a brand new Foxy." She patted the limp hand and smiled. "I'll have to get you a present to celebrate."

–

Night 5- 6AM- End shift

–

The bell rang, announcing it was time to go. Amber checked the clock to be sure it was right. Could it really be six already? The night had run so much faster when she wasn't huddled in a room fearing for her life. Foxy sat silently, his eyes gaining the blank look he had when he was deactivated. He hadn't retreated to Pirate's Cove, another abnormality Amber needed to make note of. Now that he was 'sleeping' she stood and continued to snake the cables up to his skull and wiring them into his brain. She hurried, knowing she had to fix the others before the morning manager showed up.

Mike interrupted her just as she finished, startling her with his sudden appearance. She hissed as she shocked herself, jerking her hands away from the cables at the jolt. "Don't do that Mike, I could have really screwed something up."

He ducked his head, apologizing quickly. "Sorry, I just needed some help out in the dining room. It got a bit messy in there. I think we might need an actual exorcist, I'm not very good at this."

Amber stepped away from Foxy, heading out towards the dining area quickly to see what the damage was.

"Mike, what did you do in here? There's salt and wax drippings all over the place!" The table sat closest to the main stage was covered in candles and bowls of salt and herbs. It really wasn't too messy, but seeing her assortment of collector Disney bowls scattered around holding piles of incense ash and what looked like her aunt's pork rub blend made Amber want to hit her roommate upside the head.

"I tried a bit of everything I found. Some sage, and a few things from our spice cabinet that looked kind of like mint leaves. I don't know what they are." He admitted, sniffing at one of the bowls.

"That's oregano. It's nothing like mint. You eat it on pizza all the time, how did you even mix the two up? Oh, never mind. Just help me get the wax cleaned up. We'll find someone to exorcise the suits once we have some money to pay them with." She began scraping up the wax drippings, tossing all of the supplies back into Mike's bag quickly. "It's a good thing the band doesn't have to walk around during the day, I don't have time to reattach their leg cables now." She took her arm and brushed the line of salt off the stage and onto the floor, content to play ignorant and blame the mess on the lazy evening shift cleaners.

Mike coiled up the heavy rope and tossed it backstage to hide it for the day. They had finally sorted everything out just as the morning manager showed up at the front entrance. For once she wouldn't have to clean up after Chica, and Mike considered that a favor to her to make up for whatever mess they'd left behind. He made sure to give a short hello to her before hurrying Amber out the door, not wanting to be around when she saw the main stage. Foxy would be safe in his office until the night, no one went into the room during the day hours, and they probably wouldn't even notice he wasn't in Pirate Cove since the curtains were shut. Maybe they could come back for some overtime tomorrow to check on him now that the band was stuck to the stage.

Mike quickly scolded himself for the idea, questioning his sanity. Who'd really want to stick around for a sixth night?

–

AN: This chapter is terrible. I'm so annoyed by it, but even after editing it for three hours, I just still don't like it. I'm sorry it's late, but obviously, it was hard to write, and I'm actually rather sick at the moment with a nasty stomach bug. The nausea is probably whats stopping me from being able to properly focus. So I know this chapter reads as really rushed, but it's all I've got.

As to the names chosen for the kids, there's really no meaning to them, I looked up the most popular baby names for 1980 and picked from there. Simple stuff.

Please review and be brutally honest about this chapter, also tell me what you think Foxy's going to come up with as a pet name for Amber. I'd love to hear your ideas as I still haven't chosen anything myself. Next chapter might be delayed as I get over this virus. Hope you're all safe and healthy!

-Red


	12. A morning reprieve

AN: Thank you for the well wishes and all your understanding while I'm under the weather, it means a lot to me. I'm still sick as a dog, but I like this chapter a bit more than the last, so that's nice.

Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

"Mike, did you think I went too far tonight?"

For once Mike was driving, Amber curled up in the passengers seat holding his backpack. He sighed and shrugged. "Amber, I don't even know where it came from, but you really went from zero to eighty. I mean, why would you threaten them like that? What if you'd made a mistake and they were still able to move?"

Amber wrapped her arms around the bag and sighed. "I don't know why it happened. Between classes, Uncle Eddy being in the hospital, and just all the fear and stress this job has put us through, I just got so angry. Then they were stuck there and I finally had something to blame and yell at."

"Well you got through to them. I don't know if it'll help though. After you left they didn't really talk, I think they were scared." He pulled into their parking garage and parked the car carefully.

"They weren't the only ones scared. I frightened Foxy. He realized that if I could stop them from walking, I could do the same to him. I don't know why, but that bothered me. I've got power and authority over these things, and I just don't know how to feel about it." She climbed out of the car and locked her door, waiting for Mike to come around so they could head up. "I'm not afraid of them anymore, because while before they could kill me, I've figured out how to essentially kill them. What does that even make me?"

"It doesn't change you Amber, just the situation. The fact that you're upset about it means you still have human empathy. After the week we've been through, I don't think anyone would blame you if you'd just turned them off, not even giving them that ultimatum. You're the one in power now, but you're trying to do good for them. You're at least trying to get them to pass over." He unlocked their front door and let her through first.

"It scares me that I can do that. I've come to accept that these spirits were alive once, and here I have the power to turn them off. Even Foxy, who isn't really alive. He seems real enough, and I've started to see traits that I don't think I can quantify in some secret programming code. I know I have the power to control him, but I just don't feel like I have the right." She dug through the backpack, retrieving her bowls and washing them out so she could put them back in their rightful place inside the cabinets.

"Well, with great power comes great responsibility." Mike teased, trying to lighten the mood. "I think it's a good sign you're worried about the moral responsibilities, and even though you kind of lost your temper, you didn't just turn them off or pull them apart."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Only because I can't risk damaging the animatronics. If I could scrap the whole system and just make them from scratch, I would. I'm just not skilled enough to manage it." She shook the open backpack over the trash can, dumping the now useless mix of loose spices and salt out. "I don't know If I could ever make an AI as advanced as the ones already installed. It's hard to believe that the programming is as old as it is."

"Well maybe that's why the spirits are able to possess them. We know they can't control them during the day, and the only difference between day and night is that the AI activates. I've never found anything about objects being possessed. Cursed, sure, but not possessed." Mike looked like he was seriously pondering it, flipping through his notebook. "Foxy has his own personality, and it makes me wonder if the others have their own personalities too, just unable to show it because they're possessed."

"That would be horrible." Amber said trying to imagine being trapped in her own mind while someone used her body against her will. "Oh dammit, Mike, if that's true, we can't let them stay."

"I can look up more about exorcism. I probably just didn't use the right herbs." He said hopefully. Amber looked at him and then looked over at their near empty spice rack.

"Mike, I think we should look into finding a professional. We just don't have enough experience to handle this." She gestured to the empty salt canister. "Besides, we've already wasted all of our salt and about half of my spice rack."

"How are we going to find an exorcist? Just go asking the local churches?" Amber shrugged at the question.

"Maybe? Look up the local community, maybe see if there are any of those supernatural investigators in the area. They'd probably know who to call." She stopped as she saw the stupid grin Mike was suddenly wearing. "What?"

"Who you gonna call?" Mike asked leaning forward trying to prompt a response.

"Oh, dammit, that's not-"

"Ghostbusters!" Mike laughed as Amber threw her hands up in exasperation.

"How is it you cam act so stupidly happy after all the shit we've been through?" She asked, unable to understand how he could joke around in their current situation.

"Last night went well compared to the beginning of the week. Maybe I'm just getting used to the stress, or maybe now that I know what they are I'm just less scared. I don't know, but it's better to be positive than go crazy under the stress." He wandered over to the couch and flopped down onto it.

"Maybe I should start taking lessons from you. I clearly need to relax more if last night was any indication." From the corner of the room, Amber's cell phone started going off. She jumped slightly at the surprise, but moved to answer quickly as soon as she saw it was her aunt calling.

"Aunt Sarah? Is everything okay?" There was a long pause and Mike sat up as if watching her would help him hear the conversation better. "No we haven't, We left straight for home. I assumed that it would be handled on Monday." She nodded, even though it couldn't be seen through the phone. "Yes. Alright, I'll tell him. We'll meet you there." She hung up and tucked the phone into her back pocket. "Aunt Sarah wants to take us out to breakfast and talk about our paychecks. I'm guessing she's going to handle running the restaurant while Uncle Eddy is in the hospital."

"Does that mean we'll actually have cash for groceries and rent? And possibly a priest?" Mike asked hopefully.

"Yeah, we won't have to keep living on pizza rolls and frozen waffles." She looked cheerful at the idea. "Let's get going, we can try to find an expert after we've eaten. We don't have work tonight, so it shouldn't be too bad if we try to power through today."

"Fine, but if you expect me to stay awake, you'd better provide me with coffee."

–

Mike got his coffee and sat in the corner of the booth drinking deeply while the two women talked. Mrs. Bushnell had handed them their paychecks when they'd first arrived, and between the two of them, they'd made four hundred and thirty-five dollars. That was more than enough for groceries and would handle gas for the month. The rest was probably going to be spent on trying to take care of their unwelcome guests.

Rent would have to wait until the next paycheck, but with any luck spending the week at Freddy's from now on wouldn't be so dangerous without the visits from homicidal robots.

"So you never did tell me how you two met. Do you go to college with Amber?" Mike looked up from his mug but was saved from having to answer.

"Mike and I met in high school, actually. I was assigned as his tutor for algebra and geometry. From there I guess we just became best friends." Mike nodded and set the coffee down gently, realizing that staying quiet was rude to the woman who was treating him to caffeine and bacon.

"I was looking for a cheap place to live and found the apartments around here to have the only rent I could potentially afford, and Amber ended up going to the college in this area, so we agreed to find an apartment together and split the bills." His eyes lit up as he spotted their food making it's way towards them.

"Well it's sweet to see the two of you together. You compliment each other so well."

The reaction from the two was completely in sync from the years of repetition. "We're not dating." Sarah looked surprised at the denial, and Amber tried to explain.

"Sorry, didn't mean to seem like we were snapping at you, but everyone makes that mistake. We're really not dating, we just understand each other." She handed over her bacon to Mike and stole his toast as a trade. "Mom always gives me a ton of grief because she doesn't believe that there's nothing going on, and she doesn't like Mike."

"Well you know I don't like to speak ill of people who aren't here to defend themselves, but your mother does have a very narrow view of what type of people are acceptable." The older woman seemed a bit uncomfortable to be talking about her sister-in-law in a negative light.

"Don't worry Aunt Sarah. Mom's shallow and judgmental. I've learned to accept it long ago, you don't have to be so nervous talking about it." Amber took a large bite of her toast and watched as her aunt seemed to fight a battle inside herself.

"You shouldn't talk about your mother that way Amber. It's disrespectful." She finally said.

Amber was unmoved by the scolding. "Yeah, but it's true. I love her, but she can be a real pain in the ass."

"Amber, language." Sarah warned. Mike munched on his breakfast and watched the banter amused. He had his own opinions about Amber's parents, but at least her aunt and uncle seemed to be decent people.

Breakfast went by quickly and Mrs. Bushnell was off to the hospital again to visit with her husband. Amber offered to join her, but was waved off, the older woman telling her to get her rest after her long night. The two left to head home, discussing how they were going to find someone to help with getting the spirits to pass on.

"It can't be anyone who would blab to the press. I don't want this to get out and ruin the restaurants reputation even more. It would be a lot of publicity, but the wrong kind." Amber stipulated.

"Well that means no one claiming to be a psychic, since I'd bet it would be seen as a good chance to get a TV show or something. Probably no one with the local churches either, they'd just want to use it to get people to come to sermons." Mike remarked

"Mike, that's a bit prejudiced. You can't just assume the worst of everyone." Amber warned.

"Fine, then we'll hold interviews or something, I don't know. I just don't like the idea of going to a random stranger who could turn this into an even bigger problem." He huffed, clearly still wanting to try it himself.

"We'll look around today and see who we can find. That way we can test the waters before actually giving away any information. We can pretend to be film students or something." Amber offered, sure the idea of undercover scouting would get Mike back in good spirits.

"Can I wear fake glasses and pretend to be a hipster filmmaker?" He asked, predictably perking up at the idea, and ready to go along with it now that he'd had his pot of coffee.

"If that's what it takes, then sure Mike, you go right ahead. Just remember what we're doing, okay? I don't want to have to do all the work because you got caught up playing pretend."

"Yes! Today is gonna be awesome!"

–

AN: Next chapters going to be rather silly. For now all of the suspense and spookiness from the night chapters is pretty much done with. It'll get serious again later, but this is a bit of a break from the stress our characters have been dealing with. Thank you for all of the great feedback, I have some answers to your reviews below!

Yogurt- I'm sorry it was unclear. The kids didn't pass over, but the night ended, so they lost their ability to control the animatronics.

Meta- When it comes to the supernatural, Mike just doesn't know what he's doing, but he tries. The poor dear. Glad you at least find him entertaining!

Wonderlander- I call Mr. Creepyface The Marionette. (or Mr. Creepyface apparently) There's a lot of hints at his importance in FNaF2, but to me he just feels like an added part of the game to make it harder. Golden Freddy might make an appearance as a nightmare or as a spare suit in the future if it's needed, but as an actual entity, no, he won't be appearing.

Seeker- I LOVE all of your name suggestions. They're great, and really well thought out. I hope you understand Amber's thoughts more now. She really didn't think before talking. She had a minor break from reality and just decided she was done with everything.

The Random Coyote- Great ideas! I actually was contemplating using Princess, just because of Amber's privilege upbringing. She comes from a wealthy family, but as has been made clear so far, it's not a lifestyle she really enjoys, so I can just imagine her getting annoyed at being called that, thinking that it's some sort of mocking nickname.

As always, let me know your thoughts on this chapter! Will anyone fall for Mike the hipster filmmaker? Or is he just going to look like a dumbass? Can anyone really get the kids to pass on? And what about Bonnie, Chica, and Freddy? How will they behave without being possessed for the first time in 27 years? I love to know your theories!

-Red


	13. Chasing wild geese

AN: Well, chapter 13, and this story is becoming a monster. I'm surprised that I actually have written so much already, and we're only a part of the way through.

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Night's at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

Amber tapped her foot, waiting for Mike to finish getting dressed in his supposedly 'awesome' disguise. She'd tried to convince him that there was no need for a disguise, since it's not like they were going to see anyone they actually knew. Even if they did, it wasn't like they were doing anything illegal that would get them in trouble.

"Mike, I'm sure you look very pretty already, just get your butt out here so we can get going." She checked her phone for the time, wanting to head out so they could hopefully find someone actually qualified to perform an exorcism. The two roommates had spent a few hours after breakfast searching through the local resources for paranormal investigators in the area. Amber made a few calls and set up a meeting with the first group at noon. A meeting that they'd be late for if Mike took much longer to get ready.

"Keep your panties on, I'm almost ready." Mike stumbled out of his room, looking like he was ready to raid an Apple store or clip coupons for Starbucks. Amber stared at the clearly fake thick rimmed glasses he was wearing before trying to count how many knitted pieces of clothing he'd managed to put on his body.

"You look ridiculous. Not hipster-ridiculous, but ridiculous enough that I think even the hipsters would cringe at how stupid you look." She reached out and tugged at the sweater vest, wondering where Mike had even gotten it. "You've got a sweater vest on over a regular sweater. How much wool do you need?"

"Does that mean I shouldn't go grab my scarf?" He asked looking down at his outfit unable to see just what was wrong with it.

"Just take the damn sweater vest off, and I swear if you put on a fedora, I'm leaving without you." She said checking her phone again before grabbing her keys. Mike sadly went back to his room and returned without the ugly woolen garment. He had his new notebook companion held firmly in his grip, clearly looking forward to taking notes.

Amber led the way downstairs deciding to just ignore his silliness in the hopes that he'd tone down the act before they actually met total strangers.

–

Nightside Paranormal Investigations had their headquarters in a Victorian house downtown. The old building certainly felt spooky, and probably had been chosen to help with the groups image. Amber wasn't sure if they could really trust these people to be legitimate, but they were the biggest paranormal group within twenty miles so at least they'd be likely to have contacts. Mike had already come up with the story that they were two young film makers, trying to write a documentary about spirit possessions and haunted houses. That way they could ask questions without having to bring up the pizzeria. Amber went along with it because even if it made her feel stupid, it was convenient.

They rang the doorbell and were greeted by an older gentleman who looked ex-military. Hardly the type Amber thought would believe in the paranormal, but you never could judge a person on appearances.

"Are you the young lady who called about the movie?" he asked looking between the two.

"Yes sir. We're trying to write up a pitch so we can get some funding to start filming. We thought it would be better to do most of the initial research before hand so we don't get declined." Amber gestured to Mike. "This is Mike Schmidt, and he's the main director of our project."

Mike reached forward to shake the mans hand. "I understand that this is the area's largest organization that deals with ghosts?" He sounded surprisingly eloquent when he was actually trying to impress someone.

"That's right. We're also the oldest, founded back in 1917." Both Mike and Amber made sure to look suitably impressed. The older man stepped back and gestured them inside. "Come on in. My names Rick Holtz, and I unofficially run the place. This here is my family home, built by my great-grandfather. Nowadays the downstairs serves as office space for our investigations."

He led them to the front parlor, a room that would be charming in it's classic design if it weren't for the computers that lined the walls. "This is where most of the work happens, from researching the locations we investigate, to filtering out the EVPs we may collect."

"EVP? That's an electronic voice phenomenon, right?" Amber asked, recognizing the term. Of course, she recognized it from parapsychology, the idea that people would look for words in their own language in meaningless static sounds.

"Yes. See, ghosts are usually too weak to really effect our world, and they have to utilize the surrounding energies to be able to verbally communicate with us at all. So we use audio recorders and a spirit box to try and catch whatever the spirits might be speaking that we can't hear with just the human ear. Then we analyze the recordings to try and translate whats been said from the static."

This 'spirit box' idea seemed a bit farfetched to Amber. After all, Freddy and Chica had spoken to her perfectly clearly without the use of any radios. But then again, they did have working voice boxes to control. "What about possessions? Has there ever been a moment when a spirit has tried to communicate through the use of a medium?"

"Well, the scientific credibility of a medium is sketchy at best. I'm not saying that it's impossible, but you can never prove if it's a spirit talking, or if the medium is the one speaking. There are people who care more about the fame than the actual science." Rick seemed upset at that.

"Have you ever witnessed an unwilling possession?" Mike asked, figuring that although they weren't human, the suits would still need to be treated like an unwilling human host.

"That's classified as a demonic possession. We don't handle those, but I do know a priest who has experience with them. I can give you his information if you'd like, I'm sure he'd be happy to answer any questions you have." Rick wrote down a phone number for them handing it over easily. Amber let Mike talk with Rick some more, figuring they'd gotten what they'd come for but not wanting to blow their cover by running off too fast.

She dialed in the number and waited, hoping they'd be able to get whoever this priest was to help them. The phone went to an answering machine, and she listened carefully making a mental note of the address that was given. The church wasn't too far from their apartment complex, so they could stop by on their way home to see if he was in.

Mike thanked Rick for his time and Amber put her phone away, rejoining the conversation to say her goodbyes. "We'll be sure to call again if we get our funding. You've been a really great help. It was wonderful to see your headquarters." She held out her hand for a handshake before they were lead back out of the old house.

Walking down the front walk to their car, Mike tucked away his notebook, sticking the pencil behind his ear. "So, we going to see that priest?" He asked easily, clearly enjoying their adventure even if they were running on no sleep. Had to have been all the coffee.

"There was no answer, but the machine had an address for the church he serves. It's on the way, so I thought we could check in just in case." She buckled up and jammed the key in the ignition. "Did you learn anything useful while you were talking?"

"Not sure if it's useful for our situation, but at least it's more reliable than just using the internet. It was pretty cool, but considering what we've been dealing with, I don't think I'm going to make ghost hunting a hobby. It's just way too stressful." He leaned over to fiddle with the radio, trying to find a decent station that wasn't at commercial.

"Well. Let's hope we don't strike out with our only other lead. I can't keep working if there's going to be ghosts screaming at me every night." Amber turned down a side road, figuring she'd take a short cut. The church was a few streets over, across from the post office. She wasn't sure it would even be unlocked though, since it wasn't a Sunday.

Parking across the street, she looked up at the tall spire, framed by stained glass windows. In truth she was getting tired now, losing steam, and she didn't want to have to keep running around talking about ghosts. It had been years since she walked into a church, and desperately hoped that whoever this priest was, he wouldn't try to make her feel guilty or uncomfortable.

Mike picked up on her hesitance right away. "Everything alright there Amber? You look a bit pale."

She huffed, annoyed at herself for being so obvious. "I'm fine. I'm just exhausted, and I really don't like churches," She admitted. "But, we're already here. Might as well ring and see if anyone's home." She carefully climbed out of the car and clicked it locked, heading up the stone steps out front to push on the bright red doors. They eased open slowly, letting the two young adults entrance to the dim entryway.

To Amber the place just seemed creepy, but Mike seemed to have no problems with it. He walked forward without hesitation, looking around for anyone else within the sanctuary. He didn't want to yell out, the quiet stillness feeling much like a library, where loud voices just wouldn't be proper. "Hello? Is there anyone here?"

There was stirring from a room near the back, leading behind the alter. A door opened and a very short balding man in black hurried through, bobbing his head. "Yes, Yes, I'm so sorry, I was just in the back, please, how can I help you?"

"Uh, we were just talking to Rick Holtz with the Nightside Paranormal Investigations group. I'm Mike Schmidt, I'm trying to make a documentary about the supernatural, he told us someone here might be able to answer some questions about spirit possessions?" Mike was a bit nervous this time unlike with Rick, not wanting to offend the old man, and unsure of how possessions were viewed amongst religious leaders.

"Ah, I'm sorry, but it's not something I talk about casually. Unless I'm called on to be performing an exorcism, I do my best to avoid speaking of it. I wouldn't want to tempt the devil." he clasped his hands and seemed genuinely sorry he couldn't help.

Amber stepped forward nervously, not wanting to ruin their chances, but desperate for some help. "Sir, please, I know you may not like to, but can you at least answer one thing? Have you ever found something, uh, not human, to be possessed? If so, we'd really like to find someone who knows more about it. For our movie that is."

"Miss, a demonic possession can only occur because the host is alive itself. Cursed objects would be more in the field of study for your investigator friends downtown." His tone was a bit more harsh at the continued questioning. Amber slumped a bit, let down by the negative statement.

"Right. I'm sorry we disturbed you. Thank you for your help regardless." she said, not wanting to offend by staying and demanding more answers when clearly none were forthcoming. She gestured to Mike who seemed even more upset at the dead end, his notebook being put back away before he could even use it. The pair left quickly, scurrying to their car.

"Well that was quick. We barely even got to explain ourselves before we were shunted off." Mike groused, annoyed that they were out of ideas to fix their problems.

"Well with how he was talking, I doubt he would have helped us anyway. He'd probably think we were lying because the animatronics aren't people." Amber focused on just getting them home, in an even worse mood now that the day had been spent and they were no closer to an answer.

"He's wrong though. We know that Freddy and the others are possessed, and their obviously not alive." Mike argued. "His whole theory is wrong."

'Not necessarily." Amber said slowly. "They don't have hearts or anything, and their brains are circuit boards, but maybe they're still alive enough to count. Foxy acts spontaneously. True random behavior can be simulated, but making rash decisions and showing things like fear aren't in his programming. I should know I've looked through it enough this past week. Maybe they really are alive."

"Never thought I'd hear you say something that far-fetched." Mike commented, his own exhaustion starting to catch up to him as he fought back a yawn.

"I've already had to come to terms with ghosts being real, I don't know what to believe anymore. It might be far-fetched, but I can't say for certain that it's wrong." She shot back, finally pulling back into their parking space back home. "We're lucky we don't have to go in tonight. I'm going to sleep and I'm not waking up until tomorrow morning."

Mike was quiet, following her up to their apartment, glancing at his notebook while she wasn't looking. "Yeah. Lucky."

–

AN: UGGGH. This chapter is short, andwasn't actually difficult to write, but It's been a WEEK and I never meant for that to happen. I've had very little time to write because of being sick, and then last minute holiday preparations. Probably going to be a while before I'm able to post again because I'm spending Christmas with my family, and then right after I'm making a trip with my mom to New York City. I'm excited about that, but it means less time with my computer to type. I hope everyone has a happy holiday while I'm gone, I'll try to post before New Year's, but I can't make any promises.

Minlem means mint and lemons- What in the world does your user name mean? It's mind bending trying to figure it out. Indeed, Japanese mythology does have stories about possessed items, usually cursed by Bakemono. But that won't be a thing in this story, just because it takes a lot to explain. Thanks for the well wishes, and Doc is a funny nickname! Thanks for the idea, I'm glad you're enjoying this story.

Jujufruit- I'm well aware of Anne Bonnie and Mary Read, I have a friend named after them. (Her names Maryanne. She hates it.) I won't be naming Amber any real names, Foxy's just looking for a pet name because Amber doesn't fit in with his pirate speak easily. He has a hard time saying the second part of Amber without going arrr. It's adorably embarrassing.

Seeker- Look who's getting mentioned again! Still a day chapter, but the trend will be continuing, it's easier to separate my writing by shifting between day and night because once it gets dark out, the tone shifts. Night chapters have their own little world and when the sun rises and the robots turn off, we have to go back to the real world. It also explains why the characters reactions shift between chapters, It's harder to believe what their going through is real when life keeps going on around them unknowing. Makes the nights seem more like a bad dream, even when we know it's not.

Ashwood's Flame- You might be right about Freddy, but until you see for yourself it will still be just a (Game) theory. Thanks For Watching. (I made a joke. I'm funny.)

META- That Ghostbusters joke was just for you. It didn't even exist until I wrote Amber's line and thought 'oh shit, this is an obvious line up for a joke. Should I make it?' followed immediately by 'if nothing else, I know Meta will probably get a kick out of it. I'm doing it.'

Thanks everyone for their well wishes and good questions! You guys are the best readers an author could hope for. I hope you all have a good holiday season, regardless of what your beliefs are. Next chapter won't be up for at least a few days, but I am working on it, so hopefully it will be up before the new year. You have all made December a wonderful month for me, truly a great way to end a year. As always, let me know your thoughts and any questions you might have. We've broken 40,000 words! Yay us!

-Red


	14. Sixth night

AN: Hope everyone had a good holiday. Once New Year's is over, my updates should get back to normal. I sincerely apologize for the wait times on these last two chapters. Between family time, trips, and working on a new suit of armor, I've been on a huge time crunch.

This is the last of the Night Chapters! Well, the story is going to continue being split between night and day, but this is where the game ends. So the time stamp format is going to end. There's no custom night, since obviously Mike and Amber aren't about to program the animatronics to keep trying to kill them. I might write custom night as it's own mini one-shot as a bonus sometime if I get asked to, but it won't be a main part of this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

The apartment was quiet as Mike crept out of his room. Amber likely wouldn't wake up until morning, and with any luck he'd be back before she even realized he'd taken the car. His backpack sat heavy on his shoulders as he rushed down to the parking garage. He knew he was no expert. All he had was a few days of research and less than helpful conversations. He didn't have any special technology or psychic abilities. Here he was though, going into a situation without any backup or solid plan.

His parents might actually be right. He was an idiot.

Well idiot or not, he could at least drive. He turned down the car radio and pulled out of the garage slowly, as if Amber could hear him as he made his escape. She was going to be upset that he'd gone in to work without her, and he'd willingly face her anger in the morning. He didn't want to do this alone, but the situation had already taken it's toll on her. He still vividly remembered her tirade from the night before, and he had no intention in letting it happen again, especially with how upset it had made her afterward. She needed the time away from the restaurant, and with any luck, he'd remove the problem before she returned.

Checking the dashboard clock, noting it was almost midnight. He sped up slightly, wanting to get to work before the animatronics woke up. He was cutting it a bit close, leaving as late as he could to be sure Amber didn't wake up to find him gone before he'd even had a chance to do anything. He wasn't scheduled to work, and he doubted this would count as legitimate overtime considering what he was going to do. He'd just have to accept he wouldn't be paid for his efforts. Somehow, it didn't bother him as much as he thought it would.

The brightly lit sign finally came into view, and he spun into the parking lot quickly, parking in the back and locking up before jogging to the employees only entrance. He knew very well that no one besides him ever checked the camera footage after it was filmed, so he wasn't concerned with getting caught on camera as he unlocked the back door and slipped inside.

Pirate cove stood quiet, it's occupant still absent, and Mike walked straight past it, heading to his office. Foxy was still sat beside the desk, his hook laying on the desk top beside his head. The metal hand that had taken it's place was shinier than the rest of his endoskeleton, and the lack of fur made it look just as intimidating as the jagged weapon had. The main lights shut off and he glanced at his guest, just waiting for him to come online. He had business with the others, but he needed to spend some time with the fox first. Amber had been genuinely distressed over scaring him the night before, and he just wanted to somehow help smooth things over without making her feel worse.

Foxy shifted some, his arms moving in front of him slowly as his new fingers flexed open and closed. It looked like Amber had installed the controls just fine despite rushing the job that morning.

"How does it feel?" Mike asked, feeling a bit awkward since he'd always been slightly intimidated by the tall fox, and he now had no Amber there to act as a buffer.

"Feelin' is somethin' hard to explain. Strange, but there ain't any problems with it, so I suppose that's well and good enough." The fingers tapped against the metal desk leg, making tiny clicking sounds without fur to muffle the impacts. Foxy got his feet underneath him and stood back up from his place on the floor, seeming perfectly normal despite the new appendage. "Where be the little lass? I've started getting' used to her looming round when I wake up."

"Uh, Amber's not here tonight. We weren't really supposed to come in, it's one of our days off. She, uh, doesn't know I'm here. I snuck out while she was asleep so I could try to help the others." He pulled his backpack off and set it on the desk chair beside him. "I hope you don't mind. It's just after last night, I figured it would be a good idea of she wasn't here for it. She'd want to help, but this isn't really something she's very good at. Not that I'm a professional or anything, but I've at least always had an open mind towards the supernatural stuff, she's a bit more skeptical about stuff she can't prove." He realized he was babbling and closed his mouth trying to figure out how to broach the subject he really wanted to talk about.

Foxy spoke before he could even try. "Ye seem to know her well lad. Would ye tell me, does she always fire her cannons so forcefully?"

Mike was entirely confused for a moment. Amber had told him she'd cut down on Foxy's pirate speak, but here he was spouting off gibberish again. "Excuse me? Uh, she doesn't really have cannons." He said awkwardly.

Foxy looked exasperated for a moment before he asked more plainly. "I mean, does she get angry easily lad? She was a right tempest towards the others til she got back here. Then she lost all the wind from her sails right quick, if ye get me meaning."

"I don't follow everything you just said, but, uh, no. No, Amber's usually really calm. I'm the one who's always doing stupid shit and running my mouth off. Last night was really rare for her." He figured this was the best time to bring up what he'd been meaning to talk about before. "Speaking of last night, Amber was really upset this morning. I wanted to talk to you about it."

Foxy cocked his head to the side, his ears swiveling towards Mike curiously. "Oh?" He seemed intrigued by the sudden shift. Mike had a hard time remembering that Foxy wasn't a real person when he acted like this. It was only the exposed metal and circuits that proved he wasn't alive.

"Yeah, she said she scared you with her outburst, and it really made her sad." Mike felt a bit like an ass revealing this to Foxy. As her friend he should be keeping her secrets, but he felt it was for the best Foxy understand she really was a good person, and not the crazy girl she'd acted like before. "She'd probably be pissed that I'm telling you all this, but she's just really confused right now. She knows she has a really important job to do, and now with seeing all of you as being alive, I think she's just scared of messing something up." He sighed and raked his hands through his hair. "I'm not explaining very well at all. I can't say I know exactly what she's feeling, but I just wanted you to know, you really don't have to be afraid of her. That's all I guess." He felt stupid trying to explain this when he didn't understand all of it himself, but Foxy seemed to have gotten most of it at least.

"Well, it's good to see yer so concerned about it. Yer a good lad." He gave a bark of laughter that startled the poor night guard. "I appreciate the gesture, but ye can rest assured, I ain't afraid of the little lassie. It's true that I was nervous before, seeing her fired up like that, but she's proven herself ta be trustworthy so far." He raised his new hand and curled each of the fingers individually. "She's been good ta this ol' seadog, and 'twould be a great disservice ta doubt her intentions."

Mike grinned easily knowing that at least Amber wouldn't have to worry about Foxy being afraid of her still. "That's good to hear. She really has enjoyed working with you, I can tell. Even though everything else has been a clusterfuck, she likes doing her job here. At least it's what she want's to be doing, instead of just following what her parents tell her to do."

Foxy looked interested, leaning back against the door frame and settling in to continue the conversation. "Really now? And what might that be, if ye don't mind me asking?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Knowing her father, she'd probably be in law school, or working her way up in politics. He's practically mortified she'd even contemplate working with her hands." He crossed his arms, content to continue his rant against the family he had never liked. "Both her parent's are like that. They have a lot of money, but not much sense. More worried about what their precious society members think of them, when they should be focusing on making sure their kids are happy. She's got a brother, and he's pretty cool. He actually wanted to go into an 'acceptable' field of study, so he doesn't have to deal with the bullshit." Mike stopped, realizing he was gossiping about his best friend to an animatronic fox who looked more than happy to listen. In fact, the pirate looked rather pleased to learn about the woman who had been putting him back together. "Forget, I said any of that. I'm being a total dick talking about her family issues like this." He grabbed his bag so he could go confront the other problem of the night. "Damn, I am such an asshole."

Foxy followed him, his tail swinging behind him in time with his steps. Being a robot, his face didn't show emotions as easily as a humans could, but still he seemed quite happy, his grinning muzzle looking a bit more upturned. "So, the lass be a high born lady then? Mucking about with us rabble?" He joked, watching the stage as it came into view. The others were still paralyzed in place, but the black eyes made it clear that the spirits inside were very much awake.

"Well, rabble is a lot nicer than what I've been called before, but yeah, if she actually took advantage of it, she'd be a textbook definition of a trust-fund baby." Mike started pulling out a sheaf of papers and a heavy looking candle from his bag. Foxy was now the one to be confused by the slang term. At the cocked head Mike rushed to explain. "Amber's parents have enough money that she could live off of the money for the rest of her life without actually needing to work herself. She refuses to use their money though, which is why she'd so desperate for the cash this job provides."

Foxy nodded at that, moving to look over what Mike was doing. He'd powered off before ever seeing what had happened the night before, so he had no idea of the mess the last 'exorcism' had left. The salt canister was back, (mostly empty now) though luckily there wasn't any pork rub or pilfered tableware.

The pirate didn't make any move to get in the way, keeping back as Mike set up his workspace. Freddy and his gang were silent and unmoving, their eyes trained on the human the whole time. It was unsettling, but Mike hoped that the lack of screaming meant they wouldn't fight against passing over this time.

Finally ready, he took a deep breath and turned to Foxy. "I don't know if this is going to work, but something Amber said today stuck with me. She mentioned that since you're more alive than your programming explains, then Freddy and the others might be alive and aware too. So I'm going to treat this as a human possession, and I've read that it can get really intense. You told us they were your friends before. If this is too hard for you to see, you can go back to my office. I won't be upset at all, I came here intending to do this alone anyway." Foxy looked over to the stage and the dark gazes trained on them.

"I'll be staying here lad, in case somethin' goes wrong. A captain doesn't just abandon ship at the sign of danger."

Mike smiled at the show of support. "We really have to see about adjusting the pirate-talk on you." He teased before grabbing the printouts he'd brought with him. They had instructions as well as the correct pronunciation for the difficult words he was supposed to be chanting. He read the instructions carefully once before he began, pouring the last of his salt in a circle around the three animatronics. He'd just have to remember to sweep it up before he left. Taking the paper in hand he stood just outside the circle and glanced at Foxy nervously before beginning to recite.

"Rin, Pyōh, Tōh, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen" With each word, he clasped his hands together differently, looking at his diagrams to be sure he had the positions right. He didn't know much about Japanese, but he wasn't about to dismiss something just because he didn't know the culture. If even one person had said it worked, he'd try it.

Most of the rituals he found said that the meaning and words were the most important part of the process, but he didn't want to chance anything and had found several other methods, figuring that so long as the right intent was there, whatever higher powers were out there wouldn't be too picky about his methods. As such, he turned to the next page, and began following the instructions for that rite, lighting the white pillar candle and setting it beside the salt circle.

"Spirits trapped in this realm, follow this path of illumination unto your true home. Leave this place and darken it no more!"

The dark black eyes continued to watch, bodies still not moving and the lack of response was getting to him. At least if they were screaming he'd feel like something was working. He left the candle burning and continued on to his next page. The back of his mind worrying that they'd never get rid of the ghosts and would have to do something horrible to destroy them. The last page he got to was something he was slightly more familiar with. He somewhat understood the Latin, and it seemed most like the exorcisms he'd seen in movies and on television.

"_Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus," _Mike flinched as the animatronics started wheezing. The instructions said to not stop the chant for anything, only being effective if the whole verse was completed.

"O_mnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica." _By now the wheezing had turned into full screams, and Mike finally felt he was onto something. He raised his voice, trying to be heard over the wailing. He half expected a strong wind to start blowing through, just like in all the movies, but beyond the screaming the tension in the room just remained heavy. Halfway through his chanting, the candle sputtered out, it's wick breaking off and sliding into the puddle of wax.

Their legs were immobile, but the animatronics could still use their arms and move their heads. In a change from their initial stillness, now the robots began to thrash, very nearly catching on to Mike even as he stepped back and continued yelling. _"Ergo, draco maledicte. Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos!"_ With the last syllable, Mike jumped back expecting some sort of energy discharge, or black smoke to start billowing forth. None of those things happened. Instead, Freddy and the others just slumped, the sudden weight shift making them tumble backwards onto the stage floor with a heavy thump. They lay limply there, and in the back of his mind Mike was afraid he'd broken them.

Despite his worry over their physical well being, he didn't want to go near them in case they suddenly reached to grab at him again. Once had been enough for the night. "Foxy? Do you think their safe now?" He asked nervously. The pirate slowly approached the stage, shaken by what he'd just seen, but too proud to flee and look like a coward.

"Ye stay back lad. I'll check the beasties fer ye." He offered, creeping around salt circle to where their bodies had landed. The eyes looked normal, no black pits staring back. "Lad, I think it worked. They-" He was cut off by a sudden noise, and flinched back sharply before realizing what it was.

Chica was crying. At least, that was the closest Mike could come to describing the sound. He knew they couldn't physically produce tears, but still, the sound that came from Chica's voice box was very close to that of sobs. Despite his wariness, the night guard moved closer, coming beside Foxy to look.

Bonnie and Freddy weren't making the same noises, but they had to still be aware, their heads turning to either side to avoid looking at the two. Chica remained on her back, her metal eyelids closed as she kept making the sobbing sounds. The sight was pitiful, and even though they'd proven to be dangerous before, Mike didn't feel any threat or malice coming from them at all now. Just a sadness that was hard for him to stand by and watch.

"Foxy, help me get them standing again. Amber's not here to fix them, and they'll need to be upright for the morning." There was no way Mike could lift the heavy metal structures himself, but Foxy showed just how much stronger he was now that he had two working hands to lift with. He reached down and righted the three animatronics, keeping quiet in the face of his friends sudden sorrow.

"Lad, ye best be off now." He said firmly, ushering the man back to where his things lay. Mike tried to protest that his shift wasn't over but he was cut off. "I'll clean up the stage fer ye, don't ye fret. Fer now there's nothing more ye can do. I'd like to try and speak ta' me old friends in private, and give them some time ta adjust in peace." He explained. Mike looked back towards the stage where Chica was still uncontrollably making sobbing noises.

"I understand Foxy." He grabbed the backpack and tossed his scattered papers inside. It felt odd, moving about freely while the three were clearly deeply upset, but there really was nothing else he could do.

He paused before leaving, feeling Foxy's watchful eyes still trained on him. Making a snap decision, he rushed back up to the stage, giving Chica a firm hug and pat on the back. "Please don't cry. Nothing was your fault." He let go and rushed out the back door locking it behind him. He blinked quickly, realizing there were actual tears in his eyes for the robots that he didn't even really know.

He could only rationalize that something about their sadness was just so strong he'd been affected by it.

From here, Foxy would have to comfort the three. That was probably for the best, since they were his friends after all. Mike trudged back to the car, tired now after the sudden emotional shifts. He'd be in enough trouble when he returned home, having to face Amber and explain exactly what had happened.

If there was any silver lining, it was that he'd actually managed to perform the exorcism himself. If nothing else he could rub it in Amber's face that he'd managed at least that much. He'd never let her forget it either.

–

AN: not nearly as eventful as I'd hoped it would be, but it's very difficult when I'm trying to balance my own real life research, while still not offending any of the religions I'm drawing references to. Ghost stuff is finally done with. The kids were never meant to be major characters, but I couldn't very well ignore them when they're so important to the game. I just always feel like these chapters are the worst ones I write, so it'll be much smoother sailing now that I don't have to focus on the esoteric.

Minlem- Hope this chapter answered your question! The kids were the only ones banging about the place. Thanks to Mike, they're not a problem anymore.

Meta- I love writing Mike. He's such an idiot sometimes. I'm very sorry the chapter was so short last time. Chapters 12 and 13 were originally meant to be together, they got split because of pacing, which is why they were both so short, despite taking the longest time to update.

Wonderlander- NYC was a lot of fun, I roamed around Times Square and got to do touristy things with my mom. I've been to the city a fair number of times since I have friends that live there, so I got to show her around. You just read the Night chapter. So I guess that answers that question. As for how many chapters until this is over? Gee, I don't actually have a specific number set, but I do know it's likely at least another 20 chapters. We've really only just gotten through week one, and we've only solved the first in a long list of problems.

BIG IMPORTANT NOTE: Thank you everyone who takes the time to review. It means a lot to me, and really does kick my butt into writing gear. I don't pre-draft anything besides the large over-arcing plots. So sometimes the questions you guys ask lead to entire pages of story as I try to explain things. You're all a part of my writing process. I spend hours in the middle of the night just typing with songs playing on loop to get these chapters out because I know now that I actually have followers reading this. I hope every one of you has a fantastic new year, you've all made the ending of this one truly spectacular for me. Thanks!

-Red


	15. Moving on

AN: The outpouring of love for last chapter has me writing this sooner than I expected. You've no idea how conflicted I felt posting night six. It was something I felt I had to get right, but I had to balance dramatic writing with realism. I didn't want any Hollywood effects going on, but I also didn't want it to be boring. I'm glad it went over so well!

Short chapter today, there's more coming, I just couldn't wait to write this, I was afraid I'd lose my inspiration for this chapter if I didn't type it out right away.

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Night's at Freddy's or its sequel.

–

Mike stood outside the apartment door, backpack in his hand as he tried to compose himself. He was still unsettled by the nights events, and confronting Amber while he was already emotional was a bad idea. His phone buzzed again in his jeans pocket, letting him know that the longer he waited, the worse he was making it for himself.

He was afraid to see how many text messages he'd missed while he'd driven home. Foxy sending him away might have saved him from being hunted down and forced to pay an enraged roommate's cab fare.

Straightening his spine, he reached out and grabbed the doorknob, letting himself into the apartment without showing any of the hesitation he was feeling. He half expected to be hit with a pot once he passed the threshold, so he was relieved to find the main living space free of any angry females.

Halfway to his room, his phone's ring tone blared to life, texts not being enough now obviously. He cursed quietly and froze still in place for a moment, sure that Amber had heard it from her room from the sudden scrambling sounds coming through her door.

Seeing her door opening, he sprang into movement, running for his room and grunting when he was tackled from behind. "Going somewhere Mike?"

He slumped against the floor, not fighting against the girl sitting on his back. "Hey Amber. See you woke up." He yelped as he was punched in the shoulder.

"Damn straight I woke up. I wanted to run out for a midnight taco and found out you took my car." She settled her full weight against his back and leaned forward. "You were gone for way too long, and you're being way too suspicious. Why you running, huh?" She didn't seem as angry as he was afraid she'd be. Then again, it could be a trap. He didn't pretend to understand women.

"Uh, how long have you been awake?" There was no point in lying about where he'd been, but he didn't really want to face her being pissed off in the middle of the night. Maybe if he knew how much she'd figured out, he could hold off on telling the truth and break the news to her gently.

"Long enough. You've been gone for hours and didn't answer your phone." She punched his shoulder again. "I was worried about you, you dumbass. What the hell were you out doing?"

Now he felt bad, realizing she hadn't been angry, but concerned. He should have at least left a note, especially since he'd stolen her car without any warning. "Well shit, I'm sorry Amber. I, uh" he mumbled the rest under his breath, still a bit afraid of getting punched again.

"What was that? I didn't hear you." Amber tugged on his ear so he couldn't bury his face against the carpet.

"I said I went in to work for a bit." He braced himself for the punch and held still until he realized nothing was happening. The weight was lifted from his back as Amber stood up and walked away from him to curl up on their couch. "Uh, Amber? You're not going to hit me or call me an idiot?"

"Just shut up. You are an idiot, and I'm not hitting you because I'm so pissed off I'm afraid I'd actually do some damage." She tucked her legs up and glared over at him. "Why the hell would you go in alone? You got a death wish or something?"

"Hey, I handled myself just fine." He argued. "I'll have you know that the ghost problem has been taken care of. I exorcised them."

"Bullshit." Amber gave him a flat look that showed she didn't believe him. He felt a bit offended by how quickly she'd said it.

"Really, I did! They had black creepy eyes one moment, and the next they were screaming, and they fell over and everything was better, but then Chica started to cry, and it was really sad, and Foxy kicked me out." He waved his hands around trying to convey how crazy his night had been.

Amber just stared at him, a confused look on her face. "What? You wanna run that by me at a normal speed?"

Mike wanted to flail at how difficult she was being. "I went in and performed an exorcism. Well, a couple, but the important thing is that it worked. The animatronics were possessed, and now they're not."

"How the heck did you manage to get rid of the ghosts? You didn't steal anymore of the spice cabinet did you?" She looked behind her towards the kitchen as if she could find proof that he'd raided their supplies again.

"No, I didn't, though we are out of salt now. The how doesn't really matter. What matters is that the ghosts are all gone, and it's safe for us to work now. That's good, right?" He watched her to see if she was less angry now.

She slumped back against the cushions, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What were you saying about Chica?"

Mike felt it was safe to sit down, so he slowly eased himself onto the other end of the couch. "She was crying. Like not literal tears, but it was this sobbing sound she kept making. It was really sad to see. Freddy and Bonnie wouldn't look at me at all."

Amber was quiet for a bit, thinking over the concept of a robot crying. It really just made it more real that the things she was supposed to work on were alive. "Well, they've been possessed for over twenty-five years. If the ghosts could only possess them when their AI was active, then they've had to watch as their bodies were forced to do terrible things. I'm not surprised that they'd be messed up in the head."

Mike froze in place. He hadn't even thought about that. He'd just assumed that their consciousness would be shut off while they were possessed. "No wonder Foxy told me to leave. H's probably trying to comfort them right now."

Amber furrowed her brow. "Foxy sent you away?"

Mike nodded "Yeah. Considering he's their friend, he probably wanted to give them some time without strangers around so they can cry without being embarrassed. Would you really want to have an emotional breakdown in front of total strangers?"

"I guess not." She sighed. "I really wish you hadn't gone alone. I thought we were in this together."

"Hey, we are. We just have different strengths. You are in charge of all the science stuff that I'm too dumb to understand, and I handle the spooky stuff that makes your brain implode." He grinned even when she punched him, glad she wasn't pissed off anymore. "Hey, I have good news too. Foxy's hand works just fine. He was really happy about it I think."

Amber smiled at that. "Really? He wasn't upset at losing the hook?" she got up and moved over to the front door, grabbing a big box sitting beside their coatrack.

"Didn't seem to be. I think it's still sitting on my desk actually." He watched as she carried it back over, setting it on the coffee table. "What is that?"

"It's the fox skin I ordered." Mike pulled back at that and Amber laughed. "Not real fox skin. It's the fake fur fabric for Foxy's new suit. It came in yesterday while we were out. The first night we were working, I drafted out a pattern from Foxy's current suit. There will be a few alterations of course, but I should be able to do most of it today before class, and I'll have until tomorrow night to finish it before we see him again."

"How did you pattern it while it was on him?" Mike asked confused.

"I didn't."Amber made a face at that, offended he thought she'd do something so stupid. "That would be silly, I took his suit off when I was looking for the bars to fix his legs. It's not like he was walking or talking at that point. He was still messed up."

"Yeah, but he was still aware. He just couldn't talk because his jaw and voice box were screwy. You stripped that poor pirate when he was helpless." He teased her, hooting in laughter when her face turned red, realizing he was right.

"Oh shut up, you're being childish. It's not like he has any naughty parts, he's an animatronic, I look at his circuits and endoskeleton all the time. It doesn't mean anything." She huffed, opening the box and pulling out the bolts of russet red fur.

Mike giggled even harder at that. "It means you're a pervert for robots, and he likes it!" He jumped up and ran around the couch to avoid being tackled again.

"Mike, you better sleep with one eye open." She warned, brandishing the bolt of fur at him.

"Or what, you'll beat me with fluff?" He asked not intimidated by the plushy bundle in the least. Amber growled and he wisely retreated to his own room to sleep, leaving her to her sewing.

–

Amber had hours to herself to work on the new suit, her class not being until afternoon on Sundays. Mike slept in after his harrowing night of playing exorcist, so the apartment remained fairly quiet. She took a break just before noon to eat and go through all of the pictures and video of her progress, wanting to provide a really good update to her professor that didn't hint at their being any supernatural problems.

The videos were pretty bad, each cut off by moments where Foxy would start talking, or something terrifying happened. She didn't want to let on that the animatronics were anything abnormal, and obviously she couldn't show clips of Freddy advancing like a slasher movie villain. She'd have to make due with the photos, and ask Foxy to act less animated when she made future videos. At least with the ghosts gone, there wouldn't be any more instances of being tossed around like a sack of potatoes.

"Oh now you're watching the robot porn?' Amber made an offended squawking sort of noise as Mike wandered back into the room.

"Would you shut up about that?" She whined. "I'm going over my progress videos. None of it is usable, it'd draw way too much negative attention to the restaurant."

"Well, yes robot porn isn't really good advertising for a kids place. I mean, how can I ignore it? Your camera is practically trained on his biceps." He pointed at the video where it showed clearly the entirety of Foxy's arm, His pirate speak jabbering on in the background.

"That was when Freddy started wandering around. I wasn't holding the camera, so it's just a coincidence." She shut off the video so he'd stop heckling her. "And he doesn't have biceps." She added, "He had cables and metal rods." She hit him before he could make any sort of rod innuendo. "He's not human Mike, stop sexualizing him like he is. Otherwise I'm going to start thinking _you_ have a thing for him."

Mike held his hands up and let the joke go. "Okay, no more teasing. I promise. Hows the work coming anyway?" He asked seriously.

She pointed to the piles of fur and thread. "I finished the legs and chest. I think I need foam to get the right shape for the feet, but it's a start. I'm hoping I can have it done by tomorrow. That way all I have to do is reshape and recover his head so it fits the endoskeleton better. He's almost completely done."

"Is that really all that's left?" Mike asked impressed that it was taking so little time.

"Foxy really isn't in bad shape. Most of his problems were cosmetic. The others aren't going to be so easy. Whoever was 'fixing' them was just doing more damage with their shitty work." She grumbled annoyed at the work ahead of her. "I need to make new pants for Foxy too. His are falling apart."

Mike opened his mouth and quickly closed it again when she glared at him, silently daring him to make a joke. "Right. Well, you're doing really well. I'm proud of you." He said while backing away slowly.

"Thank you." She said shortly. Turning back to her pictures she ordered them by body part, showing a time line of the improvements she'd made. "Today's my long class, so I'll be gone for a few hours. Do you need anything while I'm out?"

Mike perked up already knowing at least one thing they needed. "More salt? I used the whole canister last night."

"Of course you did." She groaned

–

Review responses!

Meta- Mike the Exorshmidtt?! We're officially even on murder attempts, you made me snort milk out my nose when I read that. It was awful, but I forgive you.

Yogurt- What was your theory? I'm really curious now!

Freaky Werewolf- Golden Freddy wasn't forgotten, he's just not part of this fic. Hope you have a happy new year, and no worries about story length, we're not even at the halfway point yet!

Seeker- You are right on target with Foxy! I see him as being something of a scoundrel, but he's chivalrous at heart. I'm sorry about Chica, but it had to be done. She's the most sympathetic of the bots.

Wonderlander- I actually listened to all of Mandopony's FnaF songs while writing last chapter! Specifically Survive the Night. Let me know when you post your story, I'd love to read it! It makes me really happy to know you were inspired by something I wrote.

–

Thank you everyone who reviewed. There is more on the way, I just really was inspired to type this up for today as a last parting shot to 2014. See you next year! (← Stupid joke)

-Red


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